RoadGuide.ph/Data comparison with OSM

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This page provides a visual comparison of the visible data between the Garmin map produced by the OpenStreetMap Philippines community and that produced by RoadGuide.ph. The images are screenshots of Garmin MapSource loaded with the maps from the two mapping communities.

The aim of this page is to demonstrate that while RoadGuide.ph taken as a whole has more data than OSM, the converse is true when looking at specific places in the Philippines. This means that even if you have access to the Contributors Map from RoadGuide.ph, the OSM Garmin map is still useful especially if the place you would like to go to is better in OSM than in RoadGuide.ph.

Data sources: For most places shown below, the OpenStreetMap Garmin map used for comparison was produced using OSM data as of December 23, 2011 while the RoadGuide.ph Garmin map used is the Contributors Map 2.04 which was released in December 2011. For the remaining places (Corregidor, Catbalogan, Gingoog, and Kidapawan), the OSMPH map used December 20, 2012 data while the RoadGuide.ph map used is the Contributors Map 2.18 which was released in December 2012. All the comparisons are still generally valid even when using RoadGuide.ph's Contributors Map 2.23 which was released on May 7, 2013.

RoadGuide.ph is better

In terms of absolute amount of data, RoadGuide.ph has significantly more roads and POIs (waypoints, in RoadGuide.ph terms) for the whole Philippines than OpenStreetMap. There are three possible reasons for this:

  • The RoadGuide.ph community is larger and has more active contributors than the OpenStreetMap Philippines community.
  • The contribution model of RoadGuide.ph (you only get the latest map if you contribute) tends to encourage more data submissions than the altruism model of OSM.
  • RoadGuide.ph allows tracing from satellite imagery provided in Google Earth, and Google has more high-resolution satellite imagery than Bing Maps, from which much of the OSM data in the Philippines is traced.

Thus, given an arbitrary town or city in the Philippines, RoadGuide.ph is likely to have more roads and POIs than OpenStreetMap. One illustrative example is shown below.

Location OpenStreetMap RoadGuide.ph
Balayan, Batangas Balayan OSMPH Garmin 2011-12.png Balayan RoadGuide Garmin 2011-12.png

OpenStreetMap is better

Nevertheless, OpenStreetMap has undeniably more or better data than RoadGuide.ph in many places in the country. Shown below are just some selected locations where this is true. The locations where OSM is better include places in Metro Manila, tourist destinations, provincial capitals, regional centers, and other significant areas.

Metro Manila

Location OpenStreetMap RoadGuide.ph
Intramuros, Manila Intramuros OSMPH Garmin 2011-12.png Intramuros RoadGuide Garmin 2011-12.png
Rizal Park, Manila Rizal Park OSMPH Garmin 2011-12.png Rizal Park RoadGuide Garmin 2011-12.png
Marikina Marikina OSMPH Garmin 2011-12.png Marikina RoadGuide Garmin 2011-12.png

CALABARZON

Location OpenStreetMap RoadGuide.ph
Paete, Laguna Paete OSMPH Garmin 2011-12.png Paete RoadGuide Garmin 2011-12.png
San Pablo, Laguna San Pablo OSMPH Garmin 2011-12.png San Pablo RoadGuide Garmin 2011-12.png
Sta. Cruz, Laguna Sta Cruz OSMPH Garmin 2011-12.png Sta Cruz RoadGuide Garmin 2011-12.png
UP Los Baños, Laguna UPLB OSMPH Garmin 2011-12.png UPLB RoadGuide Garmin 2011-12.png
Dasmariñas, Cavite Dasmarinas OSMPH Garmin 2011-12.png Dasmarinas RoadGuide Garmin 2011-12.png
Naic, Cavite Naic OSMPH Garmin 2011-12.png Naic RoadGuide Garmin 2011-12.png
Silang, Cavite Silang OSMPH Garmin 2011-12.png Silang RoadGuide Garmin 2011-12.png
Taal and Lemery, Batangas Taal Lemery OSMPH Garmin 2011-12.png Taal Lemery RoadGuide Garmin 2011-12.png
Corregidor Island Corregidor OSMPH Garmin 2012-12.png Corregidor RoadGuide Garmin 2012-12.png

Island and beach resorts

Location OpenStreetMap RoadGuide.ph
Malapascua Island, Cebu Malapascua OSMPH Garmin 2011-12.png Malapascua RoadGuide Garmin 2011-12.png
White Beach, Puerto Galera White Beach, Puerto Galera OSMPH Garmin 2011-12.png White Beach, Puerto Galera RoadGuide Garmin 2011-12.png
Bulabog Beach, Boracay Bulabog Beach, Boracay OSMPH Garmin 2011-12.png Bulabog Beach, Boracay RoadGuide Garmin 2011-12.png
Diniwid Beach, Boracay Diniwid Beach, Boracay OSMPH Garmin 2011-12.png Diniwid Beach, Boracay RoadGuide Garmin 2011-12.png

Other areas

Location OpenStreetMap RoadGuide.ph
Buenavista, Marinduque Buenavista OSMPH Garmin 2011-12.png Buenavista RoadGuide Garmin 2011-12.png
Puerto Princesa, Palawan Puerto Princesa OSMPH Garmin 2011-12.png Puerto Princesa RoadGuide Garmin 2011-12.png
Passi, Iloilo Passi OSMPH Garmin 2011-12.png Passi RoadGuide Garmin 2011-12.png
Ormoc, Leyte Ormoc OSMPH Garmin 2011-12.png Ormoc RoadGuide Garmin 2011-12.png
Catbalogan, Samar Catbalogan OSMPH Garmin 2012-12.png Catbalogan RoadGuide Garmin 2012-12.png
Kidapawan, Cotabato Kidapawan OSMPH Garmin 2012-12.png Kidapawan RoadGuide Garmin 2012-12.png