# OpenStreetMap Reviews **Vendor:** OpenStreetMap **Category:** [GIS Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/gis) **Average Rating:** 3.9/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 19 ## About OpenStreetMap OpenStreetMap (OSM) is a collaborative project that creates a free, editable map of the world, maintained by a community of volunteers. Established in 2004, OSM allows users to contribute and update data about roads, trails, cafés, railway stations, and more, utilizing tools like aerial imagery and GPS devices. Key Features and Functionality: - Editable Map Data: Users can add and modify map information, ensuring up-to-date and accurate representations of geographic areas. - Diverse Data Inclusion: OSM encompasses a wide range of data, including roads, buildings, addresses, points of interest, and natural features. - Community-Driven Contributions: With nearly 5 million registered users and over 1 million active contributors worldwide, OSM thrives on local knowledge and collective effort. - Open Data License: All map data is freely available under the Open Database License, allowing unrestricted use and distribution with proper attribution. Primary Value and User Solutions: OpenStreetMap provides an open-source alternative to proprietary mapping services, offering free access to comprehensive and customizable geographic data. It empowers individuals, organizations, and developers to create tailored maps, support navigation applications, and conduct geospatial analyses without licensing fees. OSM's emphasis on local knowledge ensures detailed and accurate mapping, particularly in areas underserved by commercial mapping services. Additionally, its open data model fosters innovation and collaboration across various sectors, including humanitarian aid, urban planning, and transportation. ## OpenStreetMap Pros & Cons **What users like:** - Users value the **easy integration** of OpenStreetMap, finding it adaptable for various projects and portals. (1 reviews) - Users value the **free access** to OpenStreetMap, appreciating its flexibility and offline capabilities for various projects. (1 reviews) - Users appreciate the **flexibility and powerful mapping features** of OpenStreetMap, enjoying its offline capabilities and integration ease. (1 reviews) - Users value the **powerful and flexible mapping tools** of OpenStreetMap, praising its offline capabilities and integration ease. (1 reviews) ## OpenStreetMap Reviews ### 1. Easy to Integrate and Free Mapping tool. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Usha B. | Manager , Leisure, Travel & Tourism, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 24, 2025 **What do you like best about OpenStreetMap?** OpenStreetMap is incredible and opensouce, it is flexible and can be use offline too. Easy to integrate with any projects and portal. It is an powerful mapping tool and its free. **What do you dislike about OpenStreetMap?** Its based on community updates which may result in some less data to be displayed. But its easy to use. **What problems is OpenStreetMap solving and how is that benefiting you?** I can see the Inventory price and locality which help us to get perfect hotel booking for my customer /client with the map feature which is integrated within the website. ### 2. Map for your calculations **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Package/Freight Delivery | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 13, 2023 **What do you like best about OpenStreetMap?** It helps on calculation, it's very easy to use and it gives suites routes between 2 points. The site is very fast so you don't have to wait until it's loaded. **What do you dislike about OpenStreetMap?** Unfortunately, it refreshes very rare (2 times a months) and that's why you can't see closed roads for example. **What problems is OpenStreetMap solving and how is that benefiting you?** Calculations of distance ### 3. Realistic Map **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Mahmoud o. | Mechanical Engineer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 22, 2021 **What do you like best about OpenStreetMap?** I like that is not like typical map application, it is kind of unique since it has map features that not always given in any map application. In addition to have a simplified Mapkey that shows all the needed information to understand the map **What do you dislike about OpenStreetMap?** Not the easiest map application I used, maybe because it is unique on its own. Also, it is not the best application when it comes to navigating " data accuracy " **What problems is OpenStreetMap solving and how is that benefiting you?** Searching for any location I need, showing the directions to reach for a certain distinction. Also, since it is giving extra information that not normally given in other applications, I take some of my time to search and have a look on the nearby places and it amazed me to know what I am missing through navigating the map. ### 4. Free wiki world map everyone can join to digitize the world **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Software | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 10, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenStreetMap?** It is free. It is based on community input and I think this map is the most accurate as of today. There is no need to go through approval process with your edits. This is important as your work is immediately accepted and visible. Comparing to other similar products your changes might not be approved and that's not very encouraging. It has a web interface to edit the map. Anybody can use the map free of charge. **What do you dislike about OpenStreetMap?** I guess it is a bit hard to start with editing the map. The tools and symbols are not all intuitive and you need to follow a guide before starting. **Recommendations to others considering OpenStreetMap:** I encourage everyone to join and help this world be a better place. **What problems is OpenStreetMap solving and how is that benefiting you?** Having an accurate map is important when looking for an address for example. Some other services might not have most recent details, whereas Open Street Map has more accurate details. ### 5. A good and efficient location finder software **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** samantha j. | Php developer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 20, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenStreetMap?** It is an excellent an efficient software that j=helps you in finding the location with the help of GPS and take you to that place. Plus it is free of cost which is a bonus. Give you better and accurate information that google maps. **What do you dislike about OpenStreetMap?** It is good software with good tools and features so no disliking about it yet **Recommendations to others considering OpenStreetMap:** It is a great tool with easy and understanding features that helps you get to your destination. I have been using it in a lot of my jobs and it is very much useful and quick. Thus it is fast and user-friendly. Plus it is free of cost which allows you to use it broadly. **What problems is OpenStreetMap solving and how is that benefiting you?** It is an effective software that helps you detect the location and gives you accurate information about every thing. Helps you to navigate better and give multiple routes. I have used it for my personal and professional usage and it has been a life saver for me. ### 6. A fun, realistic, interactive map--not your typical google streetview **Rating:** 2.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Undrea M. | Blogger and Contributor/Sales/Relationship Coordinator, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 20, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenStreetMap?** I like that it is not the google maps, or map quest, or whatever other maps out there. It has its own entity and serves a great purpose. The other day, I was on google maps and trying to see the update to the Fulton Market District streetscape project, but I was getting images of 2018 pre-work. On OpenStreetMap, you're going to get the current on projects as such. It really saves the day where google map slacks. **What do you dislike about OpenStreetMap?** I still use google maps, because it gives me my directions and time travels within a mobile app quite simply, by all comparisons. **What problems is OpenStreetMap solving and how is that benefiting you?** This has been perfect when it comes to my writing projects. Whether when I was writing a piece on a neighborhood project, and looking to include pictures, or if I am personally writing a historic fiction piece, and I need to look into an area. ### 7. A great, free alternative to Google Maps. **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Matthew W. | Administrator, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 19, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenStreetMap?** Well, for one, it's free! It's also great how these maps provide so much more information than Google Maps, etc. Lots of companies use it, like Facebook, Craigslist, OsmAnd, Geocaching, MapQuest Open, JMP statistical software, and Foursquare . **What do you dislike about OpenStreetMap?** Personally, I think the maps are a bit ugly. Also, relying on users to keep the info up to date has obvious drawbacks. It also doesn't have the name recognition of other sites. **Recommendations to others considering OpenStreetMap:** I'd give it a shot, it's hard to complain about free! What's there to lose? **What problems is OpenStreetMap solving and how is that benefiting you?** We needed to have better map and location date. OpenStreetMap provides us with this for free. ### 8. I would use it **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Daniel B. | Food and Beverage Server, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 20, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenStreetMap?** What I like about OSM is the fact that it allows its users to make maps focused on hikers, cyclists, physically challenged, sailors and technically any interest group. You can map crops, the number of doors or windows on any big building or even the age of a tree. **What do you dislike about OpenStreetMap?** It's very similar to Google Maps. Whatever I can solve with OSM I can also solve with Google maps. None of them is necessarily better than the other. **What problems is OpenStreetMap solving and how is that benefiting you?** OSM is available and ready for any styling I need to apply for my project, even if it were a sci-fi visualisation. OSM is a map that anyone can edit. If a market was missing on the map, it could be added by me or any other customer and that's how we benefit ourselves by correcting it and making it real. ### 9. Useful for coordinating, when Google Maps is undesirable **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Alex M. | Graduate Student Researcher, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 30, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenStreetMap?** OSM is fairly complete, we haven't had issues with important things missing; and by nature, when something critical is, we can add it in. When certain people we're collaborating with don't like associating with Google (they're the "Big bad" tech company), OSM is a nice alternative with less data collection. **What do you dislike about OpenStreetMap?** Just by virtue of being less well known, there's somewhat less code snippets ready online for working with the data. Getting support takes slightly more digging online. **Recommendations to others considering OpenStreetMap:** Take a representative sample of locations you would need to reference to make sure that they're present, before diving in. **What problems is OpenStreetMap solving and how is that benefiting you?** Coordinating routes for team members that need to visit certain locations together, layering other application-specific data on top of the map. ### 10. Basemap for Map of the World **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 28, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenStreetMap?** I like simplicity and design of it. Being zoomed out is nice because it is not overcrowded with labels and just starts off with the country names, after zooming into a country you get more details such as states/provinces/regions as well as major cities. Zooming in more you receive details about highways and roads and how they are connecting areas to each other. **What do you dislike about OpenStreetMap?** There is nothing much to dislike, maybe have more variety in color but that's not a true issue. It might be helpful to have a legend or just some information about some of the lines that appear, such as the red, yellow and black lines. When you zoom in you can tell that the red lines represent major highways but the other two are kind of a guessing game and also there are blue lines outlining each country as well and it would be nice to know what they are. **What problems is OpenStreetMap solving and how is that benefiting you?** We use OpenStreetMap as one of our basemaps in Map Of the World where we host it and it is beneficial to our users to be able to access and view this for their mapping needs. ### 11. Great alternative to Googlemaps! **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Tatiana K. | Producer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 20, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenStreetMap?** Volunteers from around the world update the map! Updates are visible right away to users. It is owned by the community rather than Google. It's free to users. **What do you dislike about OpenStreetMap?** Not as good for navigation map or real time traffic information. Spotty data quality. **What problems is OpenStreetMap solving and how is that benefiting you?** Have not found benefits as it pertains to business problems-- besides helping navigate. ### 12. OpenStreet Map review **Rating:** 2.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in E-Learning | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 20, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenStreetMap?** I like the open architecture and the way the grids are organized in a solid, professional manner, easily accessible to consumers. **What do you dislike about OpenStreetMap?** I am not sure of the accuracy of the information described in OpenStreetMap. I searched for 536 Broadway, New York, New York and it showed the Bronx whereas it should have been Manhattan. **Recommendations to others considering OpenStreetMap:** Has potential but addresses and locations need to be consistently right. **What problems is OpenStreetMap solving and how is that benefiting you?** It's a good tool when it works to show locations and information about what's nearby to potential businesses and people so its a terrific add. ### 13. More Traditional Map **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Celena J. | Publisher, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 23, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenStreetMap?** OpenStreetMap is just like Google Maps or Mapquest except that it looks more like an actual, traditional map. **What do you dislike about OpenStreetMap?** Nothing. It's a great service I'm glad to have discovered. **What problems is OpenStreetMap solving and how is that benefiting you?** Getting from here to there and sharing maps. ### 14. Complete and truly free to use spatial data **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 23, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenStreetMap?** 1. No strings attached data -You can certainly make edits to Google Maps, but that doesn’t mean Google will provide the data back to you unlike OpenStreetMap 2. Reliable and richer data from everything to bike maps to dog-friendly business **What do you dislike about OpenStreetMap?** Data quality is patchy. Because Open Street map is community driven and is literally located all around the world, data quality and appropriateness are random. **What problems is OpenStreetMap solving and how is that benefiting you?** used it for a data viz projects - used the OSM’s building outline layer for the Bay area - was fast and easy ### 15. Wonderful alternative to Google Maps some delightful features **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Sporting Goods | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 30, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenStreetMap?** Many landmarks, such as parks, trails, and other routes are well-marked with labels and boundaries that others like Google Maps don't have. **What do you dislike about OpenStreetMap?** There are some ties to the larger Google ecosystem (traffic, best routes, directions) that simply don't apply the same to OpenStreetMaps **Recommendations to others considering OpenStreetMap:** Great platform for a custom nationwide or worldwide product-finder using coordinates; customizable look and feel is a plus **What problems is OpenStreetMap solving and how is that benefiting you?** Ability to collaborate with others is a great benefit, with an open system that isn't the norm with most businesses ### 16. OpenStreetMap - review **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Financial Services | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 20, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenStreetMap?** Openstreetmap is very useful to know about the localities easily. It is free to use and everyone are free to edit the data. **What do you dislike about OpenStreetMap?** The data accuracy is less because we are sure whether the data is correct or not. **What problems is OpenStreetMap solving and how is that benefiting you?** I uses OpenStreetMap for understanding the local sources when I have difficulties with the communication language. ### 17. Not bad **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Marketing and Advertising | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 20, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenStreetMap?** A new map cheaper than Google **What do you dislike about OpenStreetMap?** Lacks a lot of interactivity and POI **What problems is OpenStreetMap solving and how is that benefiting you?** I used OpenStreetMap to develop interactive maps and switch from the Google Map option. ### 18. Maps **Rating:** 1.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Accounting | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 20, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenStreetMap?** It being an open source and free mapping application **What do you dislike about OpenStreetMap?** Google maps has greater functionality for my purposes **What problems is OpenStreetMap solving and how is that benefiting you?** None vs the competition ### 19. Best App! **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Apparel & Fashion | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 23, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenStreetMap?** The app is very easy to use and have been useful to my colleagues and me when are searching for a place. **What do you dislike about OpenStreetMap?** There is nothing I dislike about this app. **What problems is OpenStreetMap solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use it to figure out location and distance between point A to point B ## OpenStreetMap Discussions - [What is OSM tool?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-osm-tool) - [How do open street maps work?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/how-do-open-street-maps-work) - [What software can you use to contribute to OSM?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-software-can-you-use-to-contribute-to-osm) - [What can OpenStreetMap be used for?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-can-openstreetmap-be-used-for) - [View OpenStreetMap pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/openstreetmap/reviews?section=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-06-14+12%3A41%3A00+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=06c7fd2a-3c97-4fa6-91d5-3a4a11efd5f8&secure%5Btoken%5D=73109a00d6ef1a65baea21bff7aee504ce1476d36b65ac7d41c7b8bb98cf3d28&format=llm_user) ## OpenStreetMap Features **Data Management** - Data Capture - Data Storage - Data Manipulation - Data Visualization **Map Creation** - Geocoding - Buffer Zone Query - Overlaying - Publishing **Analysis** - Spatial Analysis - Reporting - Real-Time Streaming ## Top OpenStreetMap Alternatives - [Esri ArcGIS](https://www.g2.com/products/esri-arcgis/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (515 reviews) - [Mapbox](https://www.g2.com/products/mapbox/reviews) - 4.3/5.0 (41 reviews) - [Azure Maps](https://www.g2.com/products/azure-maps/reviews) - 4.1/5.0 (12 reviews)