Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by lucideer 54 days ago
> Personally I assumed the site would be global

The only reason you would assume a site would be global is if your definition of "global" is "works in the US" & you never bother to check for support of other countries. I live in the anglosphere outside of the US & I encounter more than enough US-only web projects for that not be to a default assumption I hold.

Most sites are not global - it's very odd to assume they would be.
1 comments
BigToach 54 days ago
Another reason could be that calling this OpenTrafficMap gives an impression that it is similar to OpenStreetMap, which is global.
link
antalis 54 days ago
Fun fact: OpenStreetMap started out with maps of only the UK. OpenTrafficMap does support data from all around the world.
link
lucideer 54 days ago
OSM launched as a London / UK project. Even today, it's a lot more comprehensive in some parts of the world than others.

If I got the impression that it was like OSM, that would give me the impression that it is only as global as my contributions to it (which is what lead to OSM becoming global).

link
MrDrMcCoy 54 days ago
Expecting support globally is of course unreasonable. Expecting it to be designed to be somewhat location-agnostic for contributors and including some obvious docs (which could just be "coming soon" or "here's what we need to expand") is pretty reasonable to me.

I don't get why there isn't even a stub repo for a mobile app to contribute with. Or am I just not finding it?

link
antalis 54 days ago
The repos are there: https://codeberg.org/opentrafficmap

https://codeberg.org/opentrafficmap/its-g5-receiver: "Current ordering situation

(as of 2026-04-23)

After the talk on Grazer Linuxtage (media.ccc.de, youtube.com) we got many responses from people also wanting to buy this receiver. We fixed a few issues of the first revision and ordered 200pcs of Revision 2.

We expect the 200pcs to arrive in the first week of May, 2026. The cost of one complete receiver (excluding case and mechanical parts) is about 20 €.

If you want to purchase a receiver PCB, please contact us at the email liked in the Imprint/Impressum of opentrafficmap.org"

link
MrDrMcCoy 54 days ago
That's for a hardware receiver. It does not appear to have mobile app or API doc accompanyment or a doc on what is needed for expansion. I would imagine that there is a minimum critical mass and municipal buy-in for such devices to work. Theoretically, mobile apps would require far less barriers to start being useful.
link
lucideer 54 days ago
It sounds like you have an idea/proposal for a separate (complimentary) product. It seems like a good idea - I'd like to see someone build that. But... this is not that.

Someone has some something cool here & people seem to be annoyed that they have not done something entirely different.

link