this post was submitted on 09 Jun 2024
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I populate Google Maps. Fill in business names, opening hours, take photos etc. At the start, I was vociferous about it, putting thousands of photos on there. These days, just about everything is there and I only correct stuff and add/remove businesses as they come and go. Oh, and food/menu photos.
Some of my photos have tens of millions of views. Which means people have to see them many times I think. Otherwise every single Australian would have seen the most popular ones, which doesn't make sense.
I'm used to Google just trusting me and immediately doing what I say. But I really had to convince them that Toys R Us really were closing down. That one took three attempts. The more prominent a place, the higher the rank you need to do major edits to it.
Would you consider contributing to OpenStreetMap?
I did the same of you. I reached a high level as a google guide, was invited to google map meetings and everything.
And then I suddenly realized all my efforts were just helping this company get bigger and achieve more monopoly. The terms of use of google maps state that everything you add becomes property of google.
And then I Found OpenStreetMap.org a lovely community in which you really are building a community effort in which there is no company monopolizing and all data is open. Sadly, you can't import all the work you've done on google maps, because now it is copyright protected by Google. So we have to start again, but it is worth it.
OSM is the future if we are to hope for a fair future in online maps.
I've contributed plenty to OSM, but not so much as a creative thing. I rarely upload photos to it. The question was about creative things we do.
While I agree my contributions help Google, I don't do it for them. I do it for the community. And frankly, they're mostly using Google maps.
They're only using Google maps because volunteers like you keep it up to date. Slack on Google and only help out OSM, an eventually the people will come.
I agree. You are helping in the short term, but in the long term, you are not. In the long term, you are empowering a monopoly that steals their freedom.
Please, discover OpenStreetMap.org and stop being an unpaid Google employee, and make your work truly public and free.