Happy birthday to me!

My first entry after a few weeks of editing.

OSM is the third crowd-sourced map editor that I’m working on, after Google Maps and Waze.

The reason for me editing OSM is related to Waze. Not really copying every aspect of the Waze map, since I am also a very active editor in Waze in my area, way back when Waze had practically nothing on it.

But OSM came into the picture after reports of misguided Foursquare pins that lead to users complaining about Waze giving wrong destinations. Foursquare is a third-party app used by Waze for navigation search.

To rectify that, I had to move the Foursquare pins to the correct location. For that to happen, I have to suggest edits in Foursquare. For that to happen faster, I had to apply to be a Foursquare Superuser.

Now, maps used in Foursquare editing uses OSM, unlike in the Foursquare mobile app which uses Google Maps when checking into places. Which means I have to edit the OSM first before moving the Foursquare pins.

OSM uses Bing Maps as its basemap, just like what Waze had been using prior to its purchase by Google. Now Waze uses Google Maps as it basemap.

My current project is to improve OSM in my hometown Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia so I can relocate the Foursquare pins properly, which I was perplexed why Foursquare Superusers before me didn’t edit the OSM first.

Therefore, my priority shall be the road alignments and marking commercial buildings. I’ll leave the road properties (average speed, traffic restrictions) for later because my main objective is to edit OSM for Foursquare which does not need all the extra data.

If you are reading this, I hope you understand.

Cheers!