Ask Slashdot: Easiest To Use Multi-User Map Editing? 52
Lordfly writes "I'm part of an online group of local hobbyist, semi-pro, and professional photographers. I want to start an editable map that showcases interesting places to shoot photos — parks, old buildings, interesting infrastructure, etc. Ideally I'd like to be able to tag/organize the markers (public/private property), as well as add example photos for each location to give people an idea of what the place looks like.
I've used the Google Maps 'Create a Map' feature, but have found that sharing for other users to see/edit is a bit ... off. Also, given Google's propensity for dropping features without much pretext, it makes me wary to sink time and effort into a possibly ephemeral map. It does most of what I'm looking for it to do, but are there more robust alternatives out there I'm not finding?"
I've used the Google Maps 'Create a Map' feature, but have found that sharing for other users to see/edit is a bit ... off. Also, given Google's propensity for dropping features without much pretext, it makes me wary to sink time and effort into a possibly ephemeral map. It does most of what I'm looking for it to do, but are there more robust alternatives out there I'm not finding?"
Ask the OSM community. (Score:5, Informative)
This is a problem that OSM (open street map) has solved. Either use their service, our even create your own clone - their software is likely to be all open source, and their mapping data certainly is.
wikimapia is for this (Score:2, Informative)
not sure how hard you're looking if you're aware of neither wikimapia.org nor openstreetmap.org but this is *exactly* what they're for
Ushahidi (Score:2, Informative)
Try Ushahidi, originally developed more for crisis management and political activitism it may be useful for you. There is also an online version at crowdmap.com you can play with. I have used it for various reasons from the downright comical to the extremely serious and I have not had any issues using it, once you get past the learning curve.
Re:Google.. (Score:5, Informative)
There's usually some warning, and occasionally even a reason. But relying on their stuff is indeed somewhat risky.
Why, how on earth can you say that?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Google_products#Discontinued_products_and_services [wikipedia.org]
Oh, Right. Now I remember...