OpenStreetMap's Overpass API can be used to find robbable banks
Saw this on HackerNews via @[email protected]
My Mastodon post about it & @[email protected]'s reply linking to OpenStreetMap's documentation with an example to find banks far away from police stations
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OSM is such a badass project
I am a contributor and I frequently bow out of decisions and because it gets pretty brutal.
But I feel like a ant compared to giants because their conversations go way over my head.
OSM can definitely find you a bank near a freeway ramp, but it can also find you a bank near a creek to make an inflatable boat getaway. What it can't do is arrange for decoys to confuse the police while you eacape.
The inflatable boat robber was ultimately caught and sentenced a year later.
As an aside, I will say that the examples from the OSM Overpass API are pretty nifty for other applications. For example, I once wanted to find the longest stretch of road within city limits that does not have a stop sign or traffic light, in order to fairly assess ebike range by running back and forth until out-of-battery. I knew at the time that OSM had the data, but I didn't know it could be queried in such a way. Would have saved me some manual searching, as well as broadening to include rural roads just outside the city.
The decoys story I believe got animated by Qxir on YouTube
Please God do not give Google an excuse to lobby the government to kill any competitors to its Maps product
I don't see a problem with this, seems perfectly reasonable an API that let's you query whatever you want. By drawing attention to this you might get some "easily offendable people" to notice OSM and make a fuzz about this which will result in a worse API for everybody.
Note that banks aren't very robbable anymore anyway. You might get a couple thousand out of the cash drawer. The rest is on a time lock or not even held locally because cash isn't universally used anymore. You're still jailed as if you stole millions.
Bwa, we've had worse ;)
Is getting on a freeway in Southern California a good way to get away from anything?
Sanity?
We have so many police chases here and I always wonder where they think they’re going to escape to
Breaking news. You can use data to find things.
Always knew my unrelated OSM API key was useful for something. LOL
As a side note, OSM does trails in parks and the like with exquisite detail, much better than Google Maps. Just in case.
I'm probably missing something obvious, but what does distance from a highway ramp have to do with a bank being robbable?
Easier it get out and list among other vehicles before police can respond.
Surely it would be better to get to a multi-storey car park? Can't be followed by helicopter. Lots of vehicles to transfer to, or stash to money in to return to later.
A highway seems a great way to get caught. Limited exits. Very visible.
Cops could just block the entrance and exit.
Okay, Morpheus.
You need the highway section of the mission to shoot the cops while the NPC is driving.
You want a few things:
Put maximum distance between you and the bank. Highway speeds. Don't robb banks during rush hour either.
To mix your car with as many other cars as possible, as fast as possible, so less people notice your car in particular.
Get off city streets in general: pedestrians, local traffic, any number of complications could trap you too near the bank, and therefore in the net of arriving police.
Move over bitches, I am the getaway driver here. You think I jest? Tell me, are you afraid of doing 120 into oncoming traffic? Have you ever raced a cop up an on-ramp like it's a drag strip? How many flashing lights have you lost by completely disregarding your passengers cries of panic and just saying "I've got this, hold the fuck on" swerving across 6 lanes at [redacted], whipping out on a surface street, and ducking into a fast-food restaurant drive-thru, smooth as fuck? Pfft, I bet you've never even drawn up plans for a minigun installed on the top of a prius - because if you don't lose them in the first couple minutes, it's not speed you need, it's endurance. And a fucking minigun, duh.
Told you, I'm the getaway driver for this job. 😎
The minigun would work for any police helicopters too!
Wow, I can’t believe it’s been done!
Yo dawg got this minigun Prius mount handy? For a friend.
This must be one of those people whose hobby is watching live car chases
In case anybody else is interested in the other work mentioned: https://archive.org/download/criminal-guides-and-manuals/Manaugh_Geoff_A_Burglar%27s_Guide_to_the_City%20%20.pdf
Knive, tool, murder, responsibility.
And? This is like looking up hammers that don't leave fingerprints on the grip so you can get away with murder. The tool itself isn't the issue, the motive is, as well as the person responsible for using it.
Okay, what's OSM?
It is the abbreviation of OpenStreetMap.org, a crowdsourced map of the world. You've 100% sure already used the data of the project, in the form of Organic Maps, OsmAnd, the maps on Facebook, instagram en Whatsapp or Pokemon Go.
Also checkout [email protected]
Is now a bad time to pitch https://mapcomplete.org/surveillance ?