Also, a warning about OSM in general: Do not blindly trust it. Map data can be very out of date in some places, especially on remote-ish hiking trails.
Also, for the love of everything that's holy, do the same with Apple/Google Maps. They can be horribly wrong to the point of being actively dangerous.
Especially when for example bridge was destroyed hours/days ago.
What's the right answer here?
Essentially, check before hand and if possible, use maps fit for purpose.
(E.g. Switzerland has nice public topo maps which are usually more accurate than Maps/OSM. They're available in SwissTopo app. The dedicated app also tends to show closed routes more accurately.)
And double check with local info boards about current state (many regions have websites or dedicated meterological organizations that will post recommendations and closed routes).
Do not ignore reality.
Do not drive around signs announcing that bridge is closed, for an example.
OSM in particular doesn't use third party registries and surveys due to the licensing issues, relying on volunteer work instead, and has a participation-based culture (aka "if you want to have a map of something, make it yourself"). Armchair mappers are using satellite photos and publicly available info, while field volunteers map everything that cannot be seen from above. Both are important. Obviously your trails have to be visited by someone participating in the community for them to appear or be updated on the map. You could be the one, for example.
OSM is also highly chaotic like Wikipedia, and the quality heavily depends on the local community, so always research the situation in the area you intend to visit. For example there's a lot of unreliable poor quality machine work in Latin America in OSM, even in populated areas. No idea why Portuguese/Spanish-speaking communities are letting this fly.
Why not? That seems like a weird stance. Is your desire to hurt Google so strong that you are not willing to help potentially thousands of people?
Not the same person: my time is limited, so I volunteer to fix data only when it is released on open license allowing me and others to use it.
Otherwise I expect to be paid.
In general, I need more than "it will help others" to spend time on something, I am already spending too much time on things like this.
Amazing work, loving this app
I’ll make sure to report it in the future!
[1]: https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/252814925 [2]: https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/276271393