Visualise map data age

Mapping tools using OSM data differ considerably in how frequently they update their data.

Can we embed the current date in a pseudo-feature such as the name of the headquarters driveway ?
So any user can zoom in to a given location and see how recent the map data is ?

This is triggered by Garmin Connect, lagging behind more than 4 years.
I have been editing local trails for a handful of months and there is no other clue telling what snapshot of the OSM data a user used.
Ideally, lat/lon 0,0 would draw visually : (c) openstreetmap but that requires consensus on non-real features to be drawn.

Any map in any format created using OSM data could choose to encode the date that the map was created in any way that it wanted - perhaps as a “pseudo data item” (as you suggest) or in some other way, but it would be the choice of the person creating the map.

I’m guessing that you’re talking about Garmin maps here, since you refer to “Garmin Connect”, but Garmin Connect isn’t a set of maps as such bit rather Garmin’s customer portal. You can buy maps there, but you don’t have to - it’s much easier to download data separately or create your own map and just copy it to the device rather than mess around with Garmin Connect.

If you want to have an “always up to date” map I’d suggest that you create your own. I wrote https://www.openstreetmap.org/user/SomeoneElse/diary/38613 a while back, but there’s lots of other documentation about how to do that too.

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What I mean is roughly the opposite : maps created using OSM data do not contain a clue as to when the OSM data was taken as OSM data users seem not to realize. I mean that the OSM data itsaelf contains a date somewhere in some way such that it becomes a visible feature.

Some do. some don’t. Picking an example that I know about, you can see how up to date https://map.atownsend.org.uk/ is by looking at https://map.atownsend.org.uk/munin/renderd-day.html .

…and as I said, yes, you can do that as well if you want. However, every person who creates a map based on OSM data chooses what it should and should not contain - you can’t force them all to include your “date somewhere”. The only way that you can do that is to create your own map.