This Cutting-Edge Map Tool Turns Anyone Into a Cartographer

Back in January, OpenStreetMap passed the 1 million mark of registered users, with contributors from all over the world – amateur cartographers, tech-savvy developers and people not particularly fluent in either maps or technology – adding to a growing picture of the world drawn by its own people. In the mapping universe, their collective effort has become the open-source antipode of proprietary giants in the business like Google Maps. Most mapping data in the world today is owned by someone. The information layered in OpenStreetMap is not, and that is precisely what makes it so valuable.

Now, the global project that was first launched in 2004 is growing up: OpenStreetMap today unveiled a new super-fast map editor that will give laymen near professional-grade tools to edit the world. A million people working together have now been armed to take on Google. And the product of their efforts – free geographical data that can form the foundation of infinite apps, tools, and even art – can be used by anyone.