Quite early in the OSM project (2007), the free road data from the US Government (aka TIGER) was imported[0]. However the quality of the data was, in retrospect, poor. Even now, the data is of poor quality in the USA, especially compared to other develeped countries.[2]<p>It also makes the map &quot;look done&quot;, and the USA, despite it&#x27;s population size, doesn&#x27;t have as active a community of mappers. The USA has about the sized OSM community as the UK or Germany, despite having 5 times the size.<p>One theory is that since the map for the USA &quot;looked done&quot;, that people thought it was done, and hence didn&#x27;t start mapping and that hindered the growth of the community there.<p>To see more, zoom in a lot in OSM in the UK or Germany, and compare similar sized towns&#x2F;cities to the USA. The USA map will usually just have the roads (with names), whereas in the UK or Germany you&#x27;ll find much more shops, schools, footpaths, carparks, parks etc. mapped.<p>[1] Details of the import <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;wiki.openstreetmap.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;TIGER" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;wiki.openstreetmap.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;TIGER</a>
[2] A long time OSM mapper points out some of the problems in 2015 of the USA&#x27;s data <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.openstreetmap.org&#x2F;user&#x2F;Richard&#x2F;diary&#x2F;34290" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.openstreetmap.org&#x2F;user&#x2F;Richard&#x2F;diary&#x2F;34290</a> Or this: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.openstreetmap.org&#x2F;user&#x2F;Richard&#x2F;diary&#x2F;26099" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.openstreetmap.org&#x2F;user&#x2F;Richard&#x2F;diary&#x2F;26099</a>