CloudMade officially launched

Last night, a very interesting startup in the field of CloudMade mapping took place in San Francisco . This project is based on OpenStreetMap data and extends it by providing additional services , including unique ones. Among these services:

• The ability to edit data display styles - now users can customize the way the map is displayed on their site, for this there is a set of styles. For those who want to create new styles, after free registration an online editor is available;
• Finding routes on the map is currently the best-speed implementation of route search algorithms based on OpenStreetMap data. Car, bike and pedestrian routes supported;
• Geocoding - search for geo objects by name;
• JavaScript library - a lightweight library that allows you to easily embed cartographic information on other sites;
• Libraries for iPhone and J2ME - the ability to develop mapping applications for mobile devices;
• HTTP API and libraries for Java, Ruby, Python - it is possible to develop cartographic web and desktop applications with support for routing and geocoding.

It is worth noting that most of these features are already on Google and Yandex maps, the main attraction of CloudMade services is the use of OpenStreetMap open data, which, together with weekly updates and the ability to edit maps for everyone, makes it possible for people interested in this to quickly create maps in any region. The quality of OpenStreetMap data for example in Germany and England is now much higher than that of competitors.

CloudMade was created by people who were at the forefront of OpenStreetMap, CloudMade services were developed in London, San Francisco and Kiev, one of the developers is the author of this publication. I would like to hear constructive feedback and criticism in the comments, as well as to involve the habrachiteli in creating detailed maps of their regions, now in this you are independent of Google and Yandex. All the information you add to the card will be available within a week through the CloudMade services and in hundreds of other applications using OpenStreetMap data. For comparison, the geo-information of many regions of Yandex, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft is not updated for years or even decades, or is completely absent.