I have yet not seen that someone sent them an email and asked them if they could/want to coorperate with us.
They have aerial images worldwide (often the most recent ones) and even look-arround (like Google Streetview) almost everywhere, so the opportunity is enormous and should not be missed if even it could be rejected.
Apple uses OSM for their own project, so they will also profit if we have access to their aerials or look-arround feature for mapping purposes, similarly to how Mapbox and Bing already corperate with us.
But I don’t want to write the email myself, it is probably better for someone that has more experience in that
Apart from that, the attribution doesn’t seem to be correct: you first have to click on “legal” for the OSM attribution to be displayed (https://maps.apple.com)
I know that the task is probably best to handle directly by the OSMF. But I haven’t found a way to contact them when searching a quarter hour through the web.
That said, you are seriously underestimating just how complicated Apple is as an organisation to deal with. Not the least that nobody will be able to talk about the contacts including myself.
Since their corporate membership in the OSMF lapsed I doubt that that any communication channels (outside interaction with their data team that still seems to exist) have been maintained so likely everything would have to start at zero, a lot to ask for getting access to yet another lot of imagery from the company formerly known as Maxar.
(A minor point: Lookaround is Apple’s street-level imagery. As far as I know, they collect it “in house” rather than white-labeling some other company’s imagery.)
(pedant alert) I’ve renamed the topic to call it “Look Around” since that’s what Apple call it. Asking about a misspelling would be like someone asking for “someone at openstreetmaps to do something”.
It is unclear if they would be more or less protective about that than random imagery that they purchased.
It is just that it is hard to argue that the same people that should be chasing down donors (as in cash donors) right now, should be spending time on a nice to have from a notoriously difficult to deal with organisation. To be very clear I’m not blaming Apple for that and understand why it is that way , it just doesn’t jive well with our ethos and way we are organised.
Apple does have a new CEO now, so it’s possible things could be different in the future. Ask and ye might receive, but if you don’t ask ye probably won’t. Apple Maps is already being used by many who are fed up with Google Maps and, according to a friend who has worked at Maxar-now-Vantor for years, Apple has replaced Google as Vantor’s largest satellite imagery buyer. So they are making a real push to be better than Google Maps. Speaking of cash donors, Apple has some serious cash, and a small amount might be directed in OSM’s direction if they see that helping OSM helps them clobber the competition.
Here’s Apple Maps’ page that lists where they’re going to be conducting street-level image acquisition for their “Look Around” feature, both via vehicle and via people with backpacks and cameras. Now if they’d only put a date on it like Google does…
If it wasn’t clear there is a lot of history including financing (mostly anonymous through third parties, see the being difficult bit) with Apple, you can bet that they are fully aware of OSM and our needs.
It was absolutely clear about the history, and I want to be clear that I’m not trying to minimize or discount that at all. All I’m saying is that there has been a change at the top, which might change their viewpoint. What I’m suggesting is not to tell them about OSM’s needs but to convince them that by helping OSM they help themselves. That’s probably the best OSM can hope for. It almost seems like sending an ambassador to petition a king. Does OSM have a diplomatic corps?
