Thanks anyway Ben and keep up on the great work!

First of all, no OSM in the next render. That can’t change – the render is by date, that is, we will cut what we have with whatever improvement we have … given the complexity of including new vector sources, I would have had to be working on OSM months ago, which I wasn’t. (I admit, the last time I looked at OSM was not months ago, but rather years ago, but this turns out to be moot – see below.)

I am not saying we will NEVER have OSM…but I am saying it is not, in its current level, appropriate for a render now. It will get better — and when it does, we’ll use it.

I think the ideas behind OSM are really great, and the progress they’ve made is very impressive.

But I’ve spent a few minutes browsing the database, and it doesn’t take long to find big gaps in coverage. The problem is with the patterns — you might find a neighborhood within a city where the roads just aren’t there…or a major arterial highway just stops 20 miles outside a city.

It’s these kinds of _inconsistencies_ in _quality_ that make OSM inappropriate for global scenery right now (but a possibly beneficial use for custom scenery).

Remember that any conflict or problem with the data in global scenery must be resolved completely by computer program, not by humans…VMAP0 (road data outside the US) is really awful…but it’s _always_ awful, and that means that whenever the SWBD data and VMAP0 data conflict, we know exaclty what to do (trust SWBD over VMAP).

It looks to me like OSM coverage isn’t adequate to throw out VMAP0, but the coverage isn’t consistent enough to blend them (blending vectors is very hard).

So we’ll get there someday, probably first with custom scenery and then even with global, but not for the next render which will happen relatively soon.

I really feel that whatever is better than what we have now outside US is well worth looking into.
Please Ben.. I’m begging you 🙂 I live outside US and I have for more than half a decade wished for a better roadsystem.

Regards,
Pat

Please Ben, please look into this as a mighty solution!