Russians Using Open Street Map to Attack Ukraine

[the_decider]

Russiana are using Open Street Map to plan their assault on the streets of Ukraine. Any ideas on how to limit this?

[mikece]

Based on my experience trying to navigate with OSM, if the Russians were using this to get to Kiev they would likely end up in Minsk before realizing they were off course.

[rad_gruchalski → mikece]

Maybe that explains why the convoy has been parked in the open space for 2 weeks? They thought they were outside of Moscow?

[MilnerRoute]

Er, what is your source for saying "Russians using Open Street Map"? (I'm trying hard to make sure I'm getting good/accurate/verifiable information about all military claims -- and I can't find any more information about this online.)

[RicoElectrico]

There is no point. Data is mirrored in both raw ( .OSM.pbf) and processed form (i.e. OsmAnd, MAPS.ME map packages) all around the world (both current and historical data). You'd only draw attention to all the stuff.

[endisneigh]

Do you want to limit anything that can be used for nefarious purposes?

[MilnerRoute]

At the end of the day, it's just a map. It seems like there'd be other ways to get maps if this one wasn't available.

I mean, theoretically the Ukraine's "IT Army" or Anonymous or someone could try to crack into Open Street Map and re-draw it so dead-end alleys are misidentified as major thoroughfares. (Or even renegade employees at Open Street Map.) But it also seems really hard to game out in my head just how much of an impact that would really have on any real-world outcomes.

[anthk → MilnerRoute]

That's useless because maps are already cached on any device which uses OSMand.

It only harms the future development of OSM for Ukrainians.

[simonblack]

Of course, there was never a time in history when Russians were responsible for making maps of Ukraine. /s

And with the very prosperous Ukraine of the last 30 years, there have been lots and lots and lots of map changes. /s

And the Russians have never built satellites with the capabilities of looking at the ground. /s

[aerostable_slug]

Wikipedia took down Wikimapia for what one might assume are similar reasons.

[RicoElectrico → aerostable_slug]

Not everything with wiki in name is related to the Wikimedia Foundation.

[anthk]

No. OSM can be used offline.