[tanzam75]

> ... that doesn't seem to have held Google back.

To the contrary. Google's map data in Belarus also comes from volunteers. For all we know, most of the volunteers who supplied the data for Google Maps and OpenStreetMap may also be working on Nokia Maps now.

The problem they are attempting to solve is that Nokia maps does not have Belarus map data. The fact that Google and OSM have that data is useless to Nokia, and to all GPS device companies that license from Nokia.

The incentive for these volunteers is that in a few years, they'll be able to tell a visitor, "Just enter the address into your GPS," knowing that it'll work. If they supplied the map data only to OSM and withheld it from commercial organizations like Google and Nokia, then they won't be able to accomplish that.