StreetComplete on iOS is now in public beta

(github.com)

178 points | by Snowly 2 hours ago

17 comments

  • JBiserkov 2 hours ago
    From the README:

    StreetComplete is an easy to use editor of OpenStreetMap data available for Android. It can be used without any OpenStreetMap-specific knowledge. It asks simple questions, with answers directly used to edit and improve OpenStreetMap data. The app is aimed at users who do not know anything about OSM tagging schemes but still want to contribute to OpenStreetMap.

    StreetComplete automatically looks for nearby places where a survey is needed and shows them as quest markers on its map. Each of these quests can then be solved on site by answering a simple question. For example, tapping on a marker may show the question "What is the name of this road?", with a text field to answer it. More examples are shown in the screenshots below.

    The user's answer is automatically processed and uploaded directly into the OSM database. Edits are done in meaningful changesets using the user's OSM account. Since the app is meant to be used on a survey, it can be used offline and is economic with data usage.

    • amenghra 2 hours ago
      This is great! I wish more knowledge bases realized their barrier to entry. Eg even Wikipedia can be scary to edit the first time, if you want to present things like citations the right way.
      • kccqzy 54 minutes ago
        Wikipedia is fine. Just make sure the content itself is good and appropriate for Wikipedia (such as no original research) and formatting citations is really least of your worries. When you do it wrong, some other editor will come and fix it.
  • greggsy 2 hours ago
    Link to the actual TestFlight beta invite, since it wasn’t easily found on the linked page:

    https://testflight.apple.com/join/K1u3eUU5

  • Loic 1 hour ago
    I have been using StreetComplete on Android thanks to a comment here some weeks ago. This is a really great tool, the barrier to contribute is brought to nearly zero.

    The only one thing missing for me is a small history of my past contributions. At some point, I made a mistake and entered the wrong information (nothing terrible, the surface of a walkway, it was 30% one surface, 70% another, I gave the 30% value instead of what I think 70% would be better). I would have been glad to be able to quickly "revert" this contribution.

    But else, a really great tool.

  • PetitPrince 2 hours ago
    StreetComplete is regularly cited whenever OpenStreetMap is mentioned on HN, and with excellent reason (this is a really good introduction to mapping with OSM). Congratulations to the team for the beta!
    • dewey 1 hour ago
      Indeed, I've been following the issue since it was mentioned here last time and was positively surprised about how quickly they progressed and got the first version shipped.
  • dmd 33 minutes ago
    Maybe I don’t understand how it’s supposed to work, but the very first question I was given had three choices and none of them were correct. What are you supposed to do then?
    • boredinstapanda 24 minutes ago
      Most of the time you can leave a note. Do you get an "Uh..." option?
      • dmd 11 minutes ago
        No, there’s only the listed options (street has a sidewalk, or it doesn’t - no option for “sidewalk extends for half the street but not the other half”).

        I don’t know if that counts as it does or it doesn’t.

    • yaomtc 22 minutes ago
      That's when you hit "uh..." and leave a note with details. In an effort to keep things simple on a small screen it doesn't include every possible option. You can read the wiki to find the best way to tag it. https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/
  • tbo47 1 hour ago
    I tried both StreetComplete and EveryDoor on my Android for a while.

    I prefer EveryDoor. It's oriented more towards stores and things I'm interested in on the map.

    EveryDoor exist on the Apple store too.

    • rafram 28 minutes ago
      Every Door has a very confusing UI (lots of unlabeled buttons with unclear icons), unfortunately. I would love to use it, but even the web-based iD editor is so much easier to figure out!
    • SomeonesAccount 1 hour ago
      StreetComplete, as indicated by it's name, is about street data. Both are for contributing to OSM, but they are for different parts of OSM
      • blargpls 16 minutes ago
        The name probably just references the street in OpenStreetMap (OSM) as StreetComplete doesn't only collect street data as the sibling comment already noted.
      • remedan 32 minutes ago
        StreetComplete asks about things other than street data as well. For example, I get queries about operating hours of businesses.
  • anotherpaul 2 hours ago
    StreetComplete is great. For me it made Openstreetmap much more approachable and now thanks to me there are a few more public toilets and one small road in osm. Especially with the road it was really interesting to see how quickly Google maps also took in this path. But they still also have the old road in the app. So it's linked but not 100%
  • eugenepavlov 21 minutes ago
    nice to see StreetComplete coming to iOS. Its question-based approach makes contributing to OpenStreetMap feel approachable even if you’re not familiar with the underlying data model
  • elaus 2 hours ago
    It's a great app, been using it on Android for years. It has a really low barrier of entry (except maybe OSM account creation) and makes improving OpenStreetMap really easy even for people that have no experience with map editing. There's simple questions, e.g. about road surface or accessibility, with illustrated multiple-choice answers.
  • intrasight 2 hours ago
    I'd like to hear more about people's experiences with Kotlin Multiplatform
  • sparrowidle 50 minutes ago
    There is actually an edit history, the little arrow icon on the map pulls up your recent edits and lets you undo them.
  • thrownawaysz 1 hour ago
    >Known caveats (we are working on it):

    >forms can only be canceled with the back gesture rather than clicking anywhere on the map

    Well for me not even the back gesture works, I just have to force close the app if I don't want to answer a survey lol

    • dewey 1 hour ago
      It takes a bit of practice, but I got it to work after a few tries.
      • rgehan 29 minutes ago
        I might be dense, but what's the back gesture exactly?

        EDIT: Got it, swiping from left to right, starting from the very border of the screen. Not super intuitive but simple enough

  • smcleod 1 hour ago
    That's legitimately a good idea. I just contributed more to open street map in 5 minute than I have in 15 years.
  • asymmetric 1 hour ago
    I’ve been using EveryDoor so far, excited about trying this one out!
  • Poudlardo 2 hours ago
    OH long overdue, glad it finally came out
  • conartist6 2 hours ago
    Can you use OpenStreetMap like Google Maps?

    I tried to use it to list restaurants but the UI reacted like nobody had ever tried that before

    • flexagoon 1 hour ago
      OpenStreetMap is a database, not a map application. The map on the official openstreetmap website is more of a demo to show some of the data. There are many different map apps that use OpenStreetMap data though.
    • unfocso 1 hour ago
      Partly, with Organic Maps or CoMaps.

      However, in my opinion TomTom (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tomtom.spe... or https://apps.apple.com/us/app/tomtom-maps-traffic/id14381065...) is still the best way to use OpenStreetMap for navigation since it combines OSM data with their own real time traffic information without dark patterns or asking for an account like Waze or Maps do.

      • xd1936 45 minutes ago
        Is TomTom's basemap entirely OpenStreetMap? Or do they add their own proprietary layer of map data on top?
      • drcongo 40 minutes ago
        I tried the TomTom app (on iOS) recently but found it incredibly buggy, especially when connected to CarPlay. The speed indicator would often just show 1mph, the dark mode would work about 20% of the time, and searches would show results from other countries ahead of a place 4 miles up the road.