OpenStreetMap: The Community-Driven Alternative to Google Maps Celebrates 20 Years

Ibrahim Awotunde

Some technologies have become so ingrained in our daily lives that we rarely stop to think about them, yet they quietly power the world around us.

OpenStreetMap (OSM) is one such technology—a collaborative, community-driven platform that provides geographic data and maps to developers and companies alike, offering a powerful alternative to proprietary systems like Google Maps.

The story of OpenStreetMap begins with Steve Coast, a former University College London student who envisioned a free, open-source map of the world.

Inspired by the success of Wikipedia and Linux, Coast set out to create a similar platform for geographic data. “Two decades ago, I knew that a wiki map of the world would work,” Coast wrote in a recent blog post commemorating OSM’s 20th anniversary. “But I didn’t know that OpenStreetMap would work until much later.”

Unlike Wikipedia, which relies on contributions of textual knowledge, OpenStreetMap involves mapping the physical world—an ambitious task that has attracted more than 10 million contributors over the years.

These volunteers map everything from roads and buildings to natural features like rivers and mountains. The data they collect comes from a variety of sources, including publicly available maps, donated aerial imagery, and even direct GPS mapping of new or changing areas.

In the early days, Coast was the driving force behind OpenStreetMap, handling the software development and advocacy needed to bring the project to life. In 2006, he founded the OpenStreetMap Foundation, a non-profit organization based in the UK, to oversee the project.

Today, the Foundation operates with a lean structure, relying on donations, memberships, and a small team of volunteers and contractors to manage the platform’s operations.

OpenStreetMap’s data is freely available under the Open Database License (ODbL), allowing anyone to use and build upon it with appropriate attribution.

This open model has made OSM a valuable resource for major companies like Apple, Uber, and Strava, as well as newer initiatives like the Overture Maps Foundation, which is supported by Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and TomTom.

These organizations leverage OSM data to enhance their own services, underscoring the platform’s significant impact on the tech industry.

The success of OpenStreetMap over the past 20 years can be attributed to its community-driven approach and the power of the internet to bring people together around a common goal.s

As Coast notes, “OpenStreetMap managed to map the world and give the data away for free for almost no money at all.” By focusing on factual data rather than opinions, OSM has avoided many of the challenges faced by other open-source projects like Wikipedia.

Beyond its technical achievements, OpenStreetMap also raises important questions about who controls geographic information.

In a world where corporate giants like Google dominate the mapping landscape, OSM offers a critical alternative that emphasizes shared ownership and public access.

As OSM contributor and free software advocate Serge Wroclawski points out, “Place is a shared resource, and when you give all that power to a single entity, you are giving them the power not only to tell you about your location, but to shape it.”

As OpenStreetMap enters its third decade, it stands as a testament to what can be achieved through collective effort and a commitment to open access. Whether mapping remote villages or bustling urban centers, the platform continues to empower users worldwide to contribute to a shared understanding of our world—free from corporate control.