Other titles for this diary entry might be...
- you really can get there from here
- around the world with OSM.
- Shanghai is just down the road from Dublin.

I was recently reading an article MapQuest Launches Additional Crowd-sourced Mapping Sites and Enhanced Developer Toolset where the general manager of MapQuest was quoted as saying "...MapQuest’s new worldwide routing is based on OSM data submitted by map contributors, effectively providing for directions from Dublin all the way to Shanghai." I know that MapQuest's routing engine works quite well (I use it for my own cycle routing application), but "Dublin to Shanghai", surely that is just hyperbole to make a point.

So I decided to try routing Dublin to Shanghai. Surprise... it works. I also tried Dublin to Hong Kong. Dublin to Jerusalem. Can't do that with Google ;)

OSM user andymac had a recent diary entry about a trip from London to Mongolia. A MapQuest route for a possible itinerary is here. (I wish you a good adventure!)

All this routing between such faraway locations made me thing that there really is a road that connects diverse cultures and and locations. And if there really is a road that connects us then there is also hope that people will travel down that road and make contacts and exchange ideas. I realize that people have been travelling these roads for centuries, but in this age of air travel, it is refreshing for me to be reminded of the fact that we are all just "down the road" from each other.

Thanks to the OSM community for making these connections! Thanks to MapQuest and other OSM service providers for investing in apps like the routing service to make these connections visible to the world.