Products · Product
OpenStreetMap
Raised as a usability problem by 117 people on Hacker News over 15 years (2012–2026), in 75 threads.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads in the last 5 years.
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Every issue, all time, most people first
Map rendering and GPS localisation are too slow to wait forUnreviewed
20122026- Map rendering and GPS localization are too slow to use2018-08-20
- Map freezes for several seconds when zooming or panning on busy tiles2018-02-17
- Map is slow to load in uncached areas and zooming is imprecise2016-05-01
Map shows too much colour and detail to read easilyUnreviewed
20122026- Map colors, patterns and icons are too noisy and cluttered to read2024-08-11
- Map is cluttered; hard to find the parts they care about2019-12-12
- Green map areas look alike and mean different things; cities hidden when zoomed out2014-08-11
Editing interface is harder to use than Google MapsUnreviewed
20122026- Editing UI is harder to use than Google Maps, discouraging contribution2024-08-11
- Editing a map feature takes about half an hour, far longer than on Google Maps2024-01-23
- Trip planning workflow is much harder than Google Maps2019-04-18
Street searches return no results or cluttered address listsUnreviewed
20122026- Address search hidden behind a tab; default keyword search behaves differently from address search2019-12-12
- Street searches return no results or buried, cluttered address lists2018-04-16
- Address search fails to find St Paul addresses and loses typed input when going back2014-08-11
Installation is confusing, with inconsistent terminologyUnreviewed
20122026- App is very slow and has a strange, confusing interface2021-02-09
- Confused about which OSM app to use; apps felt clunky2021-01-02
- Confusing to install, with inconsistent terminology and terrible third-party app interfaces2018-02-16
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 50 complaints
- Offline map search is poor and barely handles fuzzy queries2026-10-01
- Adding restaurants via the UI feels unintuitive and unexpected to the user2026-10-01
- Full GIS editors are cramped and hard to use on a phone outdoors2026-09-15
- Hard to make any edit except through StreetComplete, which asks odd questions2026-09-13
- Gets a size error with no hint of acceptable area, forcing repeated retries2026-09-12
- Multiple ways to map the same thing makes mapping confusing and overwhelming2026-09-12
- No simple business update flow; only a database editor, easy to break things2026-09-10
- OSM editing requires understanding a complex ecosystem first, unlike simple map apps2026-08-27
- Simple street edits require many arcane tags with deeply buried, confusing documentation2026-08-27
- Tapping a business on the map opens nothing, so owners can't view their listing2026-07-08
- Unsure whether duplicate or correct tagging method is used when editing sidewalks and crossings2026-07-07
- Interface is not properly usable; non-technical users delete it right after opening2026-07-06
- Editing OSM directly felt confusing and difficult for the commenter2026-06-11
- No convenient desktop UI; mobile is much more convenient to use2025-09-04
- Editing the map on a phone is hard because screens are small and fingers are fat2025-09-04
- Hard to use and gives bad directions2025-08-23
- Hard to use and gives bad directions, as stated by the commenter quoted2025-08-22
- Street names appear and then disappear when zooming slightly2025-07-24
- The plain OpenStreetMap website is not very user friendly2025-02-16
- Map label text stays the same size when zooming in, making it hard to read2024-11-19
- Editing UI is harder to use than Google Maps, discouraging contribution2024-08-11
- Map colors, patterns and icons are too noisy and cluttered to read2024-08-11
- Official OpenStreetMap site has almost unusable search functionality2024-08-11
- Getting OSM data means huge files, obscure formats, scattered info, and unclear API rules2024-07-30
- Editor is hard to use, so the commenter gave up and went back to Google Maps2024-05-24
- Mobile web view was impossible to use; couldn't navigate between two points2024-02-12
- Editing a map feature takes about half an hour, far longer than on Google Maps2024-01-23
- Time picker is horrendous and editing hours is a bad UI not localized to 12hr time2024-01-23
- Users must know where to look and struggle to find paths in busy areas2023-10-31
- Couldn't find a way to upload geotagged photos; contributing seems too complicated2023-10-15
- Can't tell what each map layer is for; descriptions could be clearer2023-09-25
- Layer names are unclear and duplicated, so users can't tell what each map shows2023-09-25
- Contributing data is confusing because the interface and tagging system are convoluted2023-09-21
- Interface is primitive and hard to use, relying on miscellaneous tags2023-09-21
- Very hard for ordinary users to add even basic information2023-08-07
- Commenter could not figure out how to search for an address2023-08-07
- Businesses find it a nightmare to automate updates like opening hours2023-05-04
- Generic editor forces users to edit raw machine-readable tag values2023-05-04
- Powerful editing tools are hard to use without producing broken data2023-02-07
- Spent 10 minutes unable to find, understand, or contribute to Turkey earthquake tasks2023-02-07
- Search is nearly useless for finding places beyond public parks2022-12-17
- Search is absolutely unusable for everyday use compared to Google Maps2022-11-24
- Panning is much less smooth, with blurry text and less detail while zooming2022-11-22
- Contributing to OpenStreetMap was intensely frustrating; drawing roads required many separate manual steps2022-11-18
- Reverted edits give no explanation and no clear way to contact the editor2022-11-02
- Mouse wheel zoom and dragging randomly fight back, snapping and panning unexpectedly2022-09-30
- Vehicle type names and cost labels are confusing, needing the profile settings to decode2022-09-03
- Prompts to draw a route but drawing doesn't work; no loading indicator while routing2022-09-03
- Contributing requires hand-editing XML and entering raw GPS coordinates, which is very hard to use2022-06-06
- Search and share features look convenient but often don't work well, especially on mobile2022-05-10