OpenStreetMap pros and cons
Strengths
- There are no additional costs for your business - OpenStreetMap is completely free.
- Outstanding coverage.
A large community of contributors is driving the continued expansion of cartographic data. Geographically dispersed maintainers contribute the local knowledge and "on-the-ground" details, often unavailable in official maps.
Note: Mapbox uses OpenStreetMap as one of data sources. - You can use alternative tilesets in clients: Wikimedia, Stamen Maps, CARTO, and others.
Weaknesses
- Being a non-profit project, OpenStreetMap does not make any commitments regarding the availability or performance.
The service may go offline for maintenance; some functionality may change unexpectedly, making certain features unavailable; or users can get locked out without notice when executing too many data requests. - The cartographic data may be changed by any user, which does not guarantee its accuracy and reliability.
- Some of the map details can be unexpectedly removed due to copyright infringement.
- No technical support. You have to register and update the map on your own to add details or fix inconsistencies.