Mappam
Mappam is new location based advertising service. Homepage: http://www.mappam.com/
Overview
OpenStreetMap was featuring adverts from Mappam on the main slippy map (http://www.openstreetmap.org homepage). Just like the old banner ads that OSM used to carry, the location based adverts will go away once you have logged in (see Accounts). Unlike the old ads, Mappam ads take up very little space - there is only one advert on the map at a time, and it only takes up 16×16 pixels. This means more space for the map and more relevant adverts for OSM users.
Background
This is project Fund Raising. Just like with the old ads, all the revenue from advertising goes straight to the OSMF Treasurer. OSMF is a not-for-profit organisation, meaning that all income should be spent to cover expenses. For a trial period the advertising broker is not taking any of the advertising revenue. Mappam's founder is Steve Coast (User:SteveC), which also started OpenStreetMap.
Controversy
While geo-located ads are a novel approach to advertising, there is a dispute whether the map, our main output, made by volunteers, should be visually altered in such a way. Some contributors claim it is disgracing the map, even though it technically is a separate layer and can be turned off.
Disabling
Although not recommended, turning the ads off is possible by either
- Logging in
- Turning off the Mappam ad overlay in slippy map
- Using a site that isn't overlaying the OSM map with ads (eg. http://www.informationfreeway.org/)
- Using an ad-blocking browser extension (eg. AdBlock or AdBlock plus)
See also:
- OpenGeoData blog post
- Emails from June and July 2007
- http://www.mappam.com