How does OSM know what street I grew up on?

0	I just created my OSM account and the map opened to where I grew up. How does OSM know that? privacy asked 08 Feb '22, 16:05 KnackDaddy 11●1●1●2 accept rate: 0%

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The quick answer is that it doesn't, but it does use cookies to remember where you last looked. Perhaps you'd looked there previously?

I don't know whether there is any clever code but for me (UK based) I cleared all cookies (when the About page was open), re-opened the browser, and it showed a map of the whole UK.

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answered 08 Feb '22, 16:49

EdLoach ♦
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I think the default location may be based on IP geo-location. In my case, I opened the site in a fresh browser, and it centered on the middle of Canada at zoom 3.

(08 Feb '22, 16:56) alester

And that "whole UK" is based on geolocation of IP address. If I browse OSM with no cookies from the UK via a German IP address, I get a map centred on Germany.

(08 Feb '22, 16:57) SomeoneElse ♦

That makes sense; I likely had a cookie from the last time I used Google Maps on this machine. Thanks.

(08 Feb '22, 18:46) KnackDaddy

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question asked: 08 Feb '22, 16:05

question was seen: 734 times

last updated: 08 Feb '22, 18:47

How does OSM know what street I grew up on?

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