Flickr Now Supports OpenStreetMap Tags
Flickr just announced support for OpenStreetMap, the wiki-like mapping service that allows users to create and edit maps. Starting today, photos that are tagged with an OpenStreetMap node ID will include a link to OpenStreetMap (OSM) right underneath the photo. OSM assigns a random number to objects on its maps and Flickr can now read this number and also extract additional data about places from the OSM database. In addition, Flickr also announced that it will now support venue ID tags for the increasingly popular Foursquare service.
Buzz Around OpenStreetMap
There has been quite some buzz around OpenStreetMap lately, especially in the mobile sphere. Given that developers often have to pay a lot to use maps from commercial vendors like NavTeq or Tele Atlas, OpenStreetMap, which is offering its maps for free, is becoming an increasingly interesting alternative, especially as the quality of the maps continues to improve.
Right now, for example, you can buy Roadee, a basic OSM turn-by-turn navigation app for the iPhone for a mere $1.99. Waze, which just released its own mapping and turn-by-turn naviation application, sadly doesn't feed any of this data back into OSM, even though these two services could really benefit from each other's expertise.
Making Flickr Smarter
As for Flickr's integration of OSM, the company does a nice job at extracting interesting information from the OSM database when an image is tagged with an OSM ID. Thanks to this, Flickr can now understand if a building is a railway or subway station, for example, or if a certain place is a historic building, a farm, or a forest. Flickr only supports a small sub-set of all the tags that OSM currently supports, but as the Flickr team points out, OSM is still a moving target and it would be hard for Flickr to keep pace. After all, they still "have this little photo-sharing site to keep running."
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Seems like a great new feature
This will be great for Foursquare Fun... Good job with that add. Also this open mapping will be great for hyperlocal marketing- mobile also. Good Stuff
Great to see OSM getting this kind of integration into mainstream social networks. Agree with the comment regarding the potential benefit that could be had between OSM + Waze forming some kind of data sharing agreement.
I hope OSM has extended quality control measures beyond a typical wiki. Love the idea though.
Jim http://www.TextMatch.me -- Love on the go.
Nice find Frederic. I like the move to support Four square too. Anyways thanks for this wonderful post....
Wow, right when you thought Flickr couldnt get any better!
RT
www.total-privacy.net.tc
If I'm looking at a given location on OpenStreetMap, how do I find out what the code is to use in the machine tag?
Padraic, you should zoom in to the area you're interested in, click the + sign on the right side of the map and enable the data layer. That will highlight all the data on the map, so you can then click on an object to find out more information about it, including its ID.
When will cameras start incorporating GPSes?