this post was submitted on 16 Mar 2025
260 points (100.0% liked)

Free and Open Source Software

18418 readers
114 users here now

If it's free and open source and it's also software, it can be discussed here. Subcommunity of Technology.

This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Gaywallet@beehaw.org
alyaza@beehaw.org
260
It's getting warmer outside... Try out StreetComplete... (reddthat.com)
submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by lemmydividebyzero@reddthat.com to c/foss@beehaw.org
43 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

For those, who don't know: There is an app called StreetComplete.

StreetComplete is a mobile app that enhances OpenStreetMap (OSM) by allowing users to contribute to mapping efforts in their local areas. It gamifies the process of collecting and verifying geographic data through simple tasks.

Such simple tasks in StreetComplete could be providing information regarding:

  1. Classifying streets (one-way or not)?

  2. Is an object (e.g. a bench or a trash bin) still there, or was it removed by the city/state?

  3. When does shop XY open and close?

  4. Who is allowed to use the parking lot?

  5. Does a bus station have lights?

  6. Can people with disabilities use the crosswalk?

  7. Is a way for bicycles?

It's getting warmer outside. Why not going out and playing it bit? It might feel a little bit like Pokemon GO (but compared to it, your location data won't be sold to Saudi Arabia).

If you usually don't go outside often or walk around outside often, maybe this could be a motivation/reason...

Official website of StreetComplete with download links: https://streetcomplete.app/

FAQ: https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/StreetComplete/FAQ

StreetComplete feature image

If you have already use/played it, what's your rank?

all 44 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Daemnyz@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 day ago

I love this App! I startest using it arounf a year ago and am already rank 2526 globally :) It's so nice to have a reason to take a walk while doing sonething useful.

[–] reksas@sopuli.xyz 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

this looks like wonderful program to use, my only worry is that how well openstreetmap is safeguarded against any corporation wanting to buy it out? This kind of community effort could easily make it vastly superior to anything corporations even could create so obviously they will try to acquire it at some point. Is it safe from that?

But provided that it is safe, this is really nice. I like going to new places but not having any real reason for it makes it feel a bit trivial. With this there is real tangible benefit for doing it.

[–] contrapunctus@lemmy.cafe 9 points 1 day ago

OpenStreetMap data is "open data", licensed under a copyleft license. If a company were to acquire the project, it legally couldn't add restrictions to its use, nor use it in a proprietary dataset.

Also, OpenStreetMap is governed by the non-profit OpenStreetMap Foundation, which any active mapper can become a voting member of. Corporate buyout of a democratic body like the Foundation seems unlikely.

Lastly, major companies like Meta, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, TomTom, Niantic etc already rely on this data. Most of them are corporate sponsors of the OSMF and help keep the servers running. 🙂 https://osmfoundation.org/wiki/Corporate_Members

[–] madjo 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

And for IOS users there's Every Door: https://every-door.app/

[–] contrapunctus@lemmy.cafe 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

On iOS, Go Map!! has a mode which shows quests like StreetComplete. https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Go_Map!!

An iOS version of StreetComplete is also in progress. If anyone is a developer, go help them out! https://github.com/streetcomplete/StreetComplete/issues/5530

[–] madjo 2 points 13 hours ago

Thank you for pointing me to Go Map!! I hadn't found that one yet. Looks easy enough to use.

[–] babyincubi@beehaw.org 12 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Love StreetComplete! my current rank is 143, need to remember to use it more when i got out. I can also recommend Forest for even more motivation to walk around🌲

[–] lattrommi@lemmy.ml 36 points 2 days ago (2 children)

My car died and I'm not currently employed due to disability so I've got nothing better to do than to walk around. I combine Street Complete with Randonautica to find new places to go. I'm running out of places with quests near where I live (Dayton, Ohio), it is causing me to exercise more. https://i.imgur.com/w3F0wtw.png

[–] Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Have a look at your area on www.openstreetmap.org and see if anything is missing. You can add it to the map, and before too long, StreetComplete will have quests based on the new data.

My area had roads but very few buildings, so now I get quests for the buildings I've added based on data that I couldn't see on the aerial map 🙂

[–] lattrommi@lemmy.ml 13 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I have an OSM account and even resolved a note or two. I've cleared every SC quest within a mile+ from my apartment and for the most part things look accurate. There are a couple fixes that need done but I also have severe ADHD. I absolutely WILL mess things up in OSM. That's why Street Complete is perfect for me, it removes all possibility of me making catastrophic changes erroneously.

For example, a library near me was torn down and a new one was built across the street from where it was. The old ones location is the new ones parking lot and the new one is where a business used to be. The road and sidewalks around them were also redone in a slightly different layout. I looked into correcting this and quickly learned I'm not capable of fixing it in OSM. I could try. However if it can't be done in about 45 seconds, I wont finish what I start. I left a note instead, so hopefully someone with that capability does and I can verify it with SC if that ever happens.

[–] Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 day ago

That's fair enough, especially as moving buildings can be quite complex.

I have ADHD too, but for me getting started is the hard part. Once I get going, I generally find mapping to be quite relaxing. I usually stick to small projects, or ones that scratch that hyperfocus itch, but then don't go back to them for weeks 🙈

[–] Lost_Wanderer@beehaw.org 6 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Randonautica

Whoa, never heard of this.

[–] lemmydividebyzero@reddthat.com 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Me neither. Unfortunately not open source..

[–] jlow@beehaw.org 2 points 2 days ago

Yeah, seems to be using Google App Analytics as well so another no from me, unfortunately ...

[–] lattrommi@lemmy.ml 5 points 2 days ago

It isn't FLOSS and I think it uses and adds to the aggregated anonymized tracking data from Google. I could be wrong. The developers I feel try too hard to push a mystical connection with the app. Still, it certainly has taken me to amazing places I never knew existed, that are right by where I live. It doesn't show third party ads but can be annoying with the system it uses to try and sell tokens for the app to be profitable for the devs. That might just be me being cheap though. I can't afford to spend money on an app at this time so having a full page ad appear every third journey gets old real quick. I really can't complain though, for as much as I have used it, for free, it has provided a lot of entertainment and adventure.

[–] jlow@beehaw.org 1 points 2 days ago

Wikipedia-Article is pretty interesting:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randonautica

[–] Mem@discuss.tchncs.de 14 points 2 days ago

I also recommend SC Expanded and Extended if you have experience with StreetComplete. It adds direct editing functionality and more quests.

[–] Andromxda@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 2 days ago

There's also a more feature-rich version of the app called SCEE, as well as Every Door and Vespucci.

You can also follow all of them, as well as OpenStreetMap itself on Mastodon:

@openstreetmap@en.osm.town
@everydoor@en.osm.town
@streetcomplete@mastodon.social

[–] Mubelotix@jlai.lu 16 points 2 days ago

I'm ranked 3600 with 2200 contributions, really enjoying the experience

[–] Link@rentadrunk.org 15 points 2 days ago (3 children)

It’s a shame there doesn’t seem to be an iOS app.

[–] unskilled5117@feddit.org 11 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

There is Go Map!! as an alternative on iOS. Have been using it, not as gamified but works well!

[–] pr06lefs@lemmy.ml 14 points 2 days ago (5 children)

F-Droid says this has "anti-features":

  • This app promotes or depends entirely on a non-free network service
    • Tethered to commercial Jawg.io for map tiles
    • FOSS OpenStreetMap.org and Westnordost.de to get quests, upload data, etc.

What is that about and is it ok? Would my collected data be going to a non-free enterprise? How exactly is the data used, does it go back to openstreetmaps?

[–] InsertUser@en.osm.town 1 points 13 hours ago

@pr06lefs
Their privacy policy is here:
https://streetcomplete.app/privacy

It also looks to the tile providers privacy policy.

Only F-Droid would take the stated purpose of an app and warn you about it as an anti-feature, but here we are.

@lemmydividebyzero @openstreetmap

[–] simon@en.osm.town 1 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)

@pr06lefs @lemmydividebyzero you should really only use @fdroidorg if you buy in to their philosophy that everybody is out there is trying to get you.

Essentially if you have a web service and write an app for it, or you write/use a web service that supports the functionality of the app that can't be simply replaced (because it is app specific) they will immediately "anti-feature" you. Its a shame because it makes it difficult to find the real issues in all the noise they produce.

[–] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 17 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The only really non-free thing is Jawg.io, which does not take your data and only renders OSM's map data into maps. The westnordost.de (developer's website) photo service is open source at https://github.com/streetcomplete/sc-photo-service and the only other thing westnordost.de is used for is an email server to receive bug reports and (as mentioned in the app's "privacy" page) is checking against https://www.westnordost.de/streetcomplete/banned_versions.txt, which is technically non-free I guess? but that's just a list of versions.

[–] jherazob@beehaw.org 2 points 1 day ago

Wouldn't it be a good idea to eventually find a FOSS/open replacement for the Jawg thing?

[–] lemmydividebyzero@reddthat.com 11 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

WestNordOst seems to be the user name of the main developer.

How exactly is the data used, does it go back to openstreetmaps?

I can give you one example. If you go to a bench and answer the question "Is it still there" with "yes", the bench object tracked by OpenStreetMaps will get a tag that is similar to "last-checked-for-existance: 03/16/2025". If you answer "no", it might get removed from the OSM database. So, yes, it results in changes in the OpenStreetMap database.

Tethered to commercial Jawg.io for map tiles

Not sure, what that means, sorry.

I have also linked the FAQ (which are by the way hosted by OpenStreetMap) ->https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/StreetComplete/FAQ#How_does_the_app_handle_uploads?

[–] MangoPenguin@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Your changes get uploaded to openstreetmap.

[–] jagged_circle 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Why does it say "non-free" then?

[–] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

TL:DR: Jawg.io to render the map. Takes no information from you.

[–] pr06lefs@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Its gonna know what tiles you're downloading and thereby your approximate location.

[–] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 1 points 1 day ago (2 children)

That's just slightly more precise than IP geolocation. As long as you use a cellphone with internet, your "approximate" location is out there somewhere unless you use Tor or something.

[–] pr06lefs@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 day ago

Out there somewhere, but not at jawg.io unless you're using Street Complete. I mean I've heard worse and its probably no big deal, but best to be transparent about it so users can make an informed decision.

Contrast with OSMAND, where I downloaded my entire state and I can use the app without internet access at all.

[–] jagged_circle 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Lol no. My IP geolocation is only 20% of the time the same continent as me. People use tools to protect that

[–] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 2 points 1 day ago

Exactly, like Tor. Anonymizing your connection prevents connecting the downloaded locations to anyone identifiable in particular.

[–] jagged_circle 3 points 1 day ago

I love counting steps

[–] stargazingpenguin@lemmy.zip 6 points 2 days ago

It is an enjoyable way to contribute to the OSM project! I mostly use JOSM or the iD editor for mapping, but when I only have my phone I'll pull out StreetComplete and do a few quests.

For beginners to mapping, it's a very easy way to contribute without the worry of messing up something!

[–] lemmydividebyzero@reddthat.com 10 points 2 days ago

I, personally, am below rank 5,000 with over 400 contributions.

[–] biteychan@beehaw.org 5 points 2 days ago

I uninstalled Pikmin Bloom after the news that they're being sold to the Saudi company (the damage is likely already done as I was a day 1 PoGo player), but when I get an Android phone in April, I would love to contribute.

[–] Zero@lemmy.ca 9 points 2 days ago

Hadn't heard of it before, thanks for sharing! Will definitely play to help support OSM.

[–] Andromxda@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 2 days ago

Make sure to also run NeoStumbler in the background, so you can scan for Wi-Fi networks, cell towers, as well as BLE beacons, and contribute this data to BeaconDB (!beacondb@lemmy.dbzer0.com) (no, I'm not affiliated with the project, I just support their mission)

You can also find NeoStumbler on Accrescent (Mastodon)