OpenStreetMap is a map of the world, created by people like you and free to use under an open licence.
OpenStreetMap
openstreetmap.org
Our take
OpenStreetMap is the privacy foundation the whole category rests on: a free, openly licensed map of the world that, unlike Google Maps, has no commercial incentive to log where you are looking. As a website it is more of a data source and reference map than a turn-by-turn navigation app, so most people will actually use it through apps built on top of it. Support it and use it as your base layer; for everyday navigation, reach for OsmAnd or Organic Maps.
GitHub at a glance
openstreetmap/openstreetmap-website
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2,756
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Last commit
today
healthy
License
GPL-2.0
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OpenStreetMap alternatives
Organic Maps Organic Maps is an Android & iOS offline maps app for travelers, tourists, hikers, and cyclists based on top of crowd-sourced OpenStreetMap data and curated with love by…
OsmAnd Global mobile map viewing and navigation for online and offline OpenStreetMap.
CoMaps Community-led offline maps and navigation based on OpenStreetMap, forked from Organic Maps with affiliate tracking and Firebase removed.
OpenStreetMap license, in plain English
GPL-2.0 Strong copyleft
Free to use and modify, but anything you distribute that is built on it must also be open under the same license.
Permits
- Commercial use
- Modification
- Distribution
- Private use
Requires
- Disclose source
- Same license
- State changes
- License and copyright notice
Does not provide
- Liability cover
- Warranty
Why it matters: Strong copyleft keeps every distributed version open. A vendor cannot fold this into a closed product and ship it without releasing their changes.
Plain-language summary of the project's license, not legal advice. Read the full text for the exact terms.