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we use MapQuest on a large format digital screen in hotel lobbies. We would like to quit using mapquest as they want to charge and we are a small company. Our product can be seen at www.mediausainc.com . We need to tag feature businesses and have a completely interactive map. My question is: could the code be written so that we could use OpenStreetMap in the same way? Thanks! |
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I can't speak for MapQuest but as far as I know they have two different product lines, one based on proprietary data (the use of which incurs license fees) and one based on OpenStreetMap data (no license fees). It is likely that they will ask for a reasonable fee even if you choose the OpenStreetMap based product because there is work involved in styling and maintenance and there's hardware necessary to serve the maps. Now if you'd like to set up and run your own server(s), that's no problem since both the data and the software used to make maps is open source. See www.switch2osm.org for instructions. Of course this means you'll be paying your hosting provider and potentially your own staff to keep your map infrastructure running. It is possible that after some investigation you'll find that Mapquest's offer is attractive compared to the cost of hosting your own. There are also alternative, commercial OpenStreetMap map providers in this list on the wiki: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Commercial_OSM_Software_and_Services Using OpenStreetMap server infrastructure for your commercial product (and therefore circumventing the need for your own servers) is technically possible but undesirable for OpenStreetMap. You can have OpenStreetMap's data for free but OpenStreetMap's server infrastructure is run by volunteers and paid for by donations, so you wouldn't want to base your for-profit business on that. |
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There are a number of options out there that might work for you. One of the best, once you learn the basics of it, is uMap. umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/ |
