- Joined
- Sep 19, 2018
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- 9,757
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- Joined SLU
- 02-22-2008
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OpenStreetMap is, as you might expect, an online map database similar to Google or Bing Maps except that its map data is entirely open-sourced. Anyone who makes an account can contribute by adding points of interest and information for businesses and locations, edit streets as they are edited in real-life, and so on. It probably could have been named "WikiMaps", if that helps you get the concept. You can visit the site and use the map directly but there is also an API that allows app-makers that need a map source to use OSM data. It's actually a pretty good map, with the accuracy of information in a particular area down to however many local contributors there are adding and updating data.
But like always when there is a commons, there are people willing to tragedize it (yes, I just invented that word). In the case of OpenStreetMap, the tragedizers are Pokemon Go players.
I'm sure you know what Pokemon Go is so I won't bother explaining it; but Pokemon Go uses OSM data for its location-relevant features. The game is every so often adding new pokemons to catch, and evidently recently added a couple of newer characters that are a bit rare because they can only "spawn" in RL beach areas. This is a problem if you're a Pokemon Go player who lives somewhere like, say, Nebraska. Which has led to an epidemic recently of Pokemon Go players going to OpenStreetMap and editing the actual terrain data to just insert nonexistent beaches everywhere so that they can improve their chances of catching a "rare" pokemon in their game.
But like always when there is a commons, there are people willing to tragedize it (yes, I just invented that word). In the case of OpenStreetMap, the tragedizers are Pokemon Go players.
I'm sure you know what Pokemon Go is so I won't bother explaining it; but Pokemon Go uses OSM data for its location-relevant features. The game is every so often adding new pokemons to catch, and evidently recently added a couple of newer characters that are a bit rare because they can only "spawn" in RL beach areas. This is a problem if you're a Pokemon Go player who lives somewhere like, say, Nebraska. Which has led to an epidemic recently of Pokemon Go players going to OpenStreetMap and editing the actual terrain data to just insert nonexistent beaches everywhere so that they can improve their chances of catching a "rare" pokemon in their game.
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