Slides from a talk I gave to the Navigation Strategies Conference on January 25, 2010.

1. How
Will
Open-­‐source
Mapping
Benefit
the
Naviga:on
and
LBS
Industries?
Randy
Meech
Head
of
Engineering,
Local
&
Mapping
AOL,
Inc.
Navigation Strategies USA
January 25, 2011

2. Topics
AOL
Local
and
OpenStreetMap
From
Patch
to
MapQuest...
MapQuest’s
OpenStreetMap
investment
$1
million
pledged
last
July
to
improve
the
quality
of
U.S.
data
What
has
OSM
done
for
MapQuest,
and
vice
versa?
Open
vs.
commercial
data
Roles
for
each
&
our
road
ahead
Launch
some
new
products
&
services
Even
one
related
to
open
source
naviga:on!

3. Bring
a
BoTle
of
Wine
to
a
Dinner
Party

4. Bring
Three
(Launches)

5. November
2009:
Patch
&
OpenStreetMap

6. Patch
Benefits
from
OpenStreetMap
BeTer
local
data
A
missing
park
in
a
“hyper-­‐local”
news
site
really
s:cks
out
Community
engagement
Patch
has
people
on
the
ground
in
each
community
No
naviga:on
or
search
requirements
Just
for
presenta:on

7. July
2010:
MapQuest
&
OpenStreetMap

8. MapQuest
Benefits
from
OpenStreetMap
Fantas:c
new
hires,
re-­‐energized
veterans
OSM
has
given
us
an
edge
in
aTrac:ng
&
retaining
top
talent
Renewed
focus
on
developer
services
Missed
the
first
wave
of
free
developer
APIs
More
data
choices
Choose
the
best
source
for
the
appropriate
applica:on
Interna:onal
launches

9. OpenStreetMap
Benefits
from
MapQuest
Very
important
to
us
to
contribute
back
Sensi:ve
to
community
&
corporate
issues,
want
to
help
Sponsored
open-­‐source
development
Full-­‐:me
and
contract
work
dedicated
to
improving
public
tools
Hosted
services
&
tools
Pucng
AOL’s
data
centers
to
work
for
the
community’s
benefit
Sponsored
ini:a:ves

10. How
did
we
help,
exactly?

11. Sponsored
Development:
Mapnik

12. Sponsored
Development:
Nomina:m

13. Sponsored
Development:
Potlatch
2

14. Hosted
Services:
OSM
Tiles
&
Style

15. Hosted
Services:
Open
Direc:ons
from=54.0484067,-­‐2.7990345&to=53.958336,-­‐1.080102

16. Hosted
Services:
Nomina:m
Search
Query:
[westminster
abbey]

17. Hosted
Services:
Open
Eleva:on

18. Hosted
Services...
???

19. Hosted
Tools:
Potlatch
2

20. Hosted
Tools:
TIGER-­‐edited
Map

21. Country-­‐specific
Sites:
Many,
many,
many...
open.mapquest.co.nz open.mapquest.be
open.mapquest.com open.mapquest.se
open.mapquest.in
open.mapquest.es
open.mapquest.co.uk
open.mapquest.org.mx
open.mapquest.com.au
open.mapquest.dk
open.mapquest.ie
open.mapquest.nl open.mapquest.de
open.mapquest.fr open.mapquest.no
open.mapquest.it
open.mapquest.at open.mapquest.ch
open.mapquest.com.sg

22. Hired
Hurricane
&
Thea

23. Sponsored
Work
for
Map
Kibera

24. Lots
of
Media
ATen:on
for
OSM

25. Contributed
servers,
beer
Contribu:ons
to
the
OSM
tech
working
group
Funds
for
improved
hardware
Also
beer...

26. Open
vs.
Commercial
Data
Where
do
you
use
commercial
data?
With
all
this
focus
on
open
What
are
the
best
uses
of
both?
We
will
make
full
use
of
both
Will
open
data
supersede
commercial
data?
A
common
ques:on

27. Where
MapQuest
uses
Commercial
Data
45
million
unique
visitors
per
month
My
parents
are
not
interested
in
TIGER
imports
or
using
Potlatch
Naviga:on
in
U.S.
needs
beTer
assurances
Someone
needs
to
have
driven
the
roads
Search
&
geocoding
also
have
a
way
to
go
Commercial
datasets
yield
beTer
results,
although
also
not
perfect

28. Where
MapQuest
uses
Open
Data
We’re
re-­‐engaging
developers
with
open
services
Few
restric:ons,
open
data:
big
advantage
Provide
full
set
of
services
on
separate
sites
You
can
search,
get
direc:ons,
etc.,
on
OSM
data
But
sites
are
separate
for
now
Will
use
open
data
when
it’s
best
Example:
Walt
Disney
World

29. Disney
World:
OpenStreetMap

30. Disney
World:
MapQuest

31. Disney
World:
Google

32. Disney
World:
Bing

33. Disney
World:
OpenStreetMap

34. Comparing
Open
vs.
Commercial
Data
Open
data
working
clearly
at
Disney
World
Places
people
care
about:
labor
of
love
You
can
find
many
examples
to
the
contrary
Usually
involving
boring
stuff
like
highway
interchanges
Improving
data
tools
Makes
it
easier
for
people
to
care
for
their
local
communi:es

35. Will
Open
Data
Supersede
Commercial?
Someone
needs
to
drive
the
roads
If
the
open
community
is
driving
all
the
roads,
great
Not
happening
now...
Would
this
mean
the
end
of
commercial
data?
Certainly
not
-­‐
stay
ahead,
innovate
&
add
value
MapQuest
understands
being
disrupted
Data
vendors
should
update
their
strategies
in
advance
Either
by
innova:ng
or
just
embrace
a
cash
cow
strategy

36. MapQuest
is
reinven9ng
itself

37. Launches

38. Launch
#1

39. Open
JavaScript
SDK
Make
it
easy
&
free
for
developers
to
use
OSM
Without
secng
up
your
own
stack
or
paying
Uses
MapQuest’s
OSM
:les
Previously
you
had
to
use
OpenLayers
or
similar
And
other
open
services
POI
support,
vehicle
&
bike
rou:ng,
nomina:m
search

40. Open
JavaScript
SDK:
Example

41. Launch
#2

42. Open
Aerial
Tiles
The
best
of
freely
available
aerial
imagery
Mostly
from
NASA
Jet
Propulsion
Laboratory
&
Na:onal
Agriculture
Imagery
Program
Aerial
:les
are
hosted
by
MapQuest
&
free
to
use
Not
only
for
tracing
but
in
applica:ons
Quality
not
quite
as
good
as
commercial
But
will
improve
as
imagery
opens
up

43. Open
Aerial
Tiles
Example

44. Launch
#3

45. Open
Guidance
Service
Turn-­‐by-­‐turn
guidance
service
Details
here:
hTp://open.mapquestapi.com/guidance/
All
on
OpenStreetMap
data
Commercial
vendors
can
be
restric:ve
here
Developers
can
offer
turn-­‐by-­‐turn
voice-­‐guided
apps

46. Open
Guidance
Example

47. Ques:ons?
Randy
Meech
Head
of
Engineering,
Local
&
Mapping
AOL,
Inc.
@randyme
/
randy@patch.com