skobbler vs. Waze

Mr_Israel · 2010-09-23T12:10:25.000Z

Hello Openstreetmap buddies,

I just wanted to point you to a interesting project for all of you that maybe missing the community factor of Openstreetmap in Israel.
If you own a Android powered smartphone or a iPhone you maybe heard of the Israeli Waze project that offers you a free online navigation and a community like website where you can get in touch with people and also send bugs or problems back to the waze system.

So now we have skobbler!!!
Not a long time ago skobbler switched his navigation from a bitmap based NAVIGON / Navteq services to cloudmade Nav studio and claims to be the first real usefull OSM navigation software for smartphones.
Bringing a navigation software based on OSM to a smartphone is not new, BUT there features are really good.

As the founders of the skobbler project came from the navigation company NAVIGON I expect a professional routing with all features you are used to in a navigation software when sitting in a car.
The website is good and there are quite a lot users worldwide using this services and adding their local restaurants etc.

Yesterday they announced a interesting new tool called “skobbler OSM Bugs”.
In terms of fixing bugs this tool is really amazing. Users that drive to a location can just use a button in the smartphone app and add a bug to the place a error happened.
The best thing is the good bug reporting and fixing portal that skobbler provides from yesterday. http://www.skobbler.us/osmbugs

There is only one open bug visible on the israeli map. And the street the user drove before and after defining the bug is visible.
In Bug lists in Germany are very impressive and of course from time to time things getting fixed by local mappers.

Check it out!
My bodyname there is “davids”

Vladimir_Kondratiev · 2010-11-06T17:15:44.000Z

Hi,

It is very strange how they have 1 bug reported for Israel. They should have zero - skobbler do not offer anything for Israel, neither data nor application in Android market. At least it is what its web site says.

Do you know some more about its availability for Israel? I’d be happy to contribute data from my car driving to OSM and not to Waze only as it happens now.

Mr_Israel · 2010-11-07T22:18:14.000Z

Hello Vladimir,

I can’t believe that- but you are right.
Its currently just supporting some countries. Not even Canada is supported currently (just starting next year).

If you have an android device i would recommend OSMAND, as its also able to route and send POI and OSMBUGS directly to the map.
It saved the GPX path localy on your device and the POI and bugs are saved directly into OSM.

Whats realy great about OSMAND is the possibility to see the open bugs in the OSM Bugs.

I wonder if you could somehow use the plain APK. Maybe it will somehow still work.
There is a download link to the APK on this webpage:
http://android.pdassi.de/121627/skobbler_GPS_Navigation_fuer_Android.html

The navigation at Skobbler is based on Cloudmaps: http://developers.cloudmade.com/projects/show/navi-studio
So it should work in Israel.

Maybe this helps…

BTW: Do you know OSMTracker for Android?

Mr_Israel · 2010-11-07T22:26:58.000Z

The device used at skobbler several times in the area of Israel is iPhone 3Gs. Not Android. So maybe there is a way to get it running on a iPhone?

Vladimir_Kondratiev · 2010-11-10T19:46:36.000Z

There is “Vespucci OSM Editor” here:
http://code.google.com/p/osmeditor4android/

Not very useful at the moment.

Another tool in this category is “OSMTracker for Android” http://code.google.com/p/osmtracker-android/

OSMAND use bitmap tiles, they don’t render OSM data. I use another app of this sort, I found it better - Orux maps http://www.oruxmaps.com/
I think it is the best in class. It have no integration with OSM bugs, but I can still mark POI’s and use it later with JOSM…

For Skobbler - will give it a try

Mr_Israel · 2010-11-10T21:14:53.000Z

Hello Vladimir,

Thank you for the tip of Orux. I will give it a deeper try.

But what OSMAND offers you is more than adding some poi to a gpx track and editing it on the desktop. That for you can easily use OSMTracker for android.

OSMAND Benifits (http://code.google.com/p/osmand/):

Online navigation with a turn-by-turn nav based on YOURNAV (http://www.yournavigation.org)
Build in and editing existing POI (with your OSM account)
Build in offline address searching (not sure this will work in hebrew)

Just with this tool I could add most of the following POI within one walk:
http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=32.787354&lon=35.541605&zoom=18&layers=M

It would be almost impossible to add this with a tool like OSM Tracker for Android.

yrtimiD · 2010-11-14T22:17:29.000Z

I just installed this skobbler on my android milestone. On a pictures from web it looks good, but actually it still not supports Israel. It have country combo which really small list. No way to just see map or search POI, all starts from country selection. Big disappointment.

Mr_Israel · 2010-11-15T07:30:06.000Z

Hi yrtimiD,

I have also tried to get a address inside this app via web but its not possible. Only with a search and not possible with a click on the map.
Really bad that skobbler doesn’t support it.

It would be enough if you would have something like a cruising mode, where you can just drive and publish bugs if they appear.
But I dont even see such a possibility

Vladimir_Kondratiev · 2010-11-15T19:14:34.000Z

I tried to use “Vespucci OSM Editor” (http://code.google.com/p/osmeditor4android/) on practice. And - it works reasonable well! I am able to edit OSM map features, delete or add ones, right from the phone; and can immediately upload results back. Worth trying. It is not for navigation and “by the way” mapping, it is dedicated for mapping only.

Mr_Israel · 2010-11-15T20:11:54.000Z

I have used the Vespucci Editor only to change small things in the map while being on the way.
A great tool but not possible to change big things on a touchscreen phone. Its just not made to do that.

Mr_Israel · 2010-11-28T21:57:21.000Z

BTW: Today I found mapzen-poi-collector for Android in the Official Android Market. No comment on this one on the website of cloudmade but its working good.

http://mapzen.cloudmade.com/mapzen-poi-collector

hesher · 2010-11-29T07:08:50.000Z

Mr_Israel:

BTW: Today I found mapzen-poi-collector for Android in the Official Android Market. No comment on this one on the website of cloudmade but its working good.

http://mapzen.cloudmade.com/mapzen-poi-collector

I’ve been using it on my iPhone.
Nice app but you can’t add custom tags.
Like Hebrew and English names…