Any limitations of OSM?

General talk
1

Hello all,

I’ve just got into the open source mapping scene, and am in a bit of a discovery process.

I’m very inclined to go with the free OSM over google earths or virtual earth.

I will be using this in a client’s site, so I want to make sure I’m not developing them into a corner by trying to save money.

Besides the accuracy of the user-added data vs. a private company (debatable), are there any functional limitations of OSM?

For reference, I’m using Silverlight 2.0, MOSS 2007, & ASP.NET 3.5.

Any insight?

Thanks!

2

OpenStreetMap is mainly about gathering and distributing geographic data for free (e.a. using a CC-by-SA license). So you can get our data or even pre-rendered tiles, the rest is up to you. Everything you can think of using geographic data should be possible if your programming skills and fantasy allow it. There are already a lot of applications that use the OSM data which might be suitable for you as well.

We have the OpenLayers javascript client (OS GoogleMaps counterpart), Google earth alternative Kosmos, navigation software Gosmore, Navit, Traveling Salesman etc. It’s just too much to list here. Browse the osm wiki and you might find what you need.

3

And which do you think is the best (or the most popular) application I can use with OSM if…
1- I develop in Java
2- I develop in C++