this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2023
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I imagine certain features like Google Maps' different busyness indicators might be missing because otherwise that would require telemetry?

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[–] [email protected] 42 points 1 year ago (9 children)

Try OrganicMaps (https://organicmaps.app) on Android. It's awesome!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

it's nice, but its navigation/route finding can be pretty atrocious

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

This is my favorite front end for openstreetmaps. The only problem is I live in NJ and most addresses are missing. I usually just get coordinates from Google maps and add them manually.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Can you use this with Android Auto?

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Almost all alternatives use OpenStreetMaps. I prefer Magic Earth but all of them are similar enough

The main issue is OSM. They lack many addresses (varies A LOT among different countries, some are fine) and POIs. Please consider contributing yourself, because it depends only on volunteers!

It is SUPER easy. Just download StreetComplete on Android to add multiple different info in a very easy way (or just house numbers which are the most important info) and EveryDoor for POI editing/deletion/addition in just a few clicks. And don't worry if you don't input something because you aren't sure as long as what you enter is correct

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

interestingly in my region in germany osm is more reliable in regards of house numbers then google is

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

in some areas osm is insanely detailed, with trash cans, flower pots, and all kind of stuff. Nerds fucking rock.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

Some basic information, including building numbers, can also be edited from within Organic Maps.

[–] GeekyNerdyNerd 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I gave OpenStreetMaps a try a few years ago and tbh it was shocking just how outdated it was. It listed businesses as existing that hadn't been around since before I was born and there were several streets that just didn't exist at all.

I did my best to update it, but there was just so much that was outdated in my area that I eventually gave up. It honestly would've been easier to just redo the entire thing from the ground up, that's how bad it was for my area. To be fair, even Google maps isn't idea, there are parts of the city where I live that haven't had a street view update in 10 years, but at least the actual map info is accurate.

I've heard from people in Europe that their experience was that OpenStreetMaps was actually better than Google maps, so yeah there is some significant variance in quality depending upon region.

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago (3 children)

https://www.openstreetmap.org/

It's the only one I know, I've also done mapping for them and updating several places around my home town.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I like Organic Maps. It uses the openstreetmap data.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Open Street Map is legitimate. In bicycling communities, Strava is the gold standard app for tracking rides, and it uses Open Street Maps on the backend. It's always super accurate for me, even for fairly obscure bike trails off the beaten path.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I noticed allot of the trails in my area are mapped better than on Google.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

My house doesn't even exist on OpenStreetMap, so I don't have much faith in it

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Then you can map it and add it to the map with a free account and some "proof", unlike Google Maps where the main road to my colleague and his four neighbours houses still isn't on Google Maps after almost a year of reporting. The road is almost a year old but my colleague still can't get deliveries to his house.

Try it out! The mapping community on OpenStreetMap is often very helpful and open to new people.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Osmand with some of these custom maps that add address data to the normal maps. It works amazingly and is also entirely offline.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I've been using Osmand for years, it works fine here in Denmark. I just use the standard maps.

Offline functionality used to be very important to me, but not so much anymore. Still I'd hate my map to stop working, just because I don't have good enough signal.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

I find offline still very important. Great for travelling, mobile data, and reliability

But I also have a SD card full of music on my phone. And no cloud storage

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Oh my thank you so much, this and no trafic data are my main 2 pain points with this app, now it's one less!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Also on F-Droid!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Why isn't that address data included in OpenStreetMaps and/or OSMAnd by default?

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (4 children)

The FOSS ones suck in comparison honestly. There's really just osmAnd that has a really ancient UI. As for other OSM(OpenStreetMaps), I find MAPS.ME to be the best, but it's closed source with some crypto scam crap built in that you can't disable.

I don't really like OSM based maps because they miss tons of places where I'm at, when I specifically need building numbers and locations. Also the search on both apps is god awful and straight broken.

Google Maps is definitely miles ahead of the competition here. The other features like seeing how busy businesses are, reviews/images, menu and phone number/website. These are also icing on top of the cake that make it essential to have which none of the competition have, let alone any FOSS ones.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

It really depends on where in the world. I'm in the Caribbean and Google maps is terrible here.

Even on the main road network there is places where a bridge is seen as an intersection on Google maps.

Open street maps is much better here.

The app I'm using for open street map is called Organic Maps.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Yeah when traveling I'm always supplementing my Google maps with OsmAnd just because gmaps is missing so much data.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Honestly, OsmAnd doesn't have that bad of an ui these days. I'm perfectly happy with it, most of the time. Definitely prefer it to Google Maps while cycling.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Organic Maps is a great open source replacement for MAPS.ME and osmAND, but also with the same disadvantage of not having good public transport options and needing to download offline maps beforehand. Magic Earth, while not FOSS, at least does show public transport times (in my country at least).

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Address based search works, but the data is largely lacking.

You can help by adding building numbers from within Organ Maps (tap a building and, then "edit place").

The underlying OSM dataset supports building number interpolation, so even a few accurate entries could be very helpful.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

@AlmightySnoo with Traffic Data you can use #MagicEarth. It use #OpenStreetMap Data.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

FOSS turn-by-turn is unfortunately not great. I like the proprietary app HERE, because it works well for turn-by-turn, is based in Europe and has a privacy policy that fits on one page

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Magic Earth (not FOSS), such an underrated app

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

openstreetmaps.org ecosystem

for navigation I use Organic Maps: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/app.organicmaps/

I like OsmAnd too, but it's too much for most of my use cases. I still use it for recording trips.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

OpenStreetMap. Google Maps is probably the best product in the field tho, even among paid solutions.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

All the alternatives have poor search functions e.g. fuzzy search. After trying them all I use magic earth but will often find I have to get addresses out of google maps then put them into ME

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

My job requires a lot of pulling up maps. I'm sad to say I haven't found a good Google replacement. Do I like all the ones listed? Yes. Can they get the job done the way I need it? No.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

For hiking and walking around the city open street map is great. I personally use mapy.cz - they work great and at least in central Europe - more accurate than google.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

None. Tried a few, none of them come close to what Google Maps offer.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Open maps will improve greatly in the near future. The Overture Maps Foundation is working on an open mapping dataset to rival Google.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Unfortunately, that's the only truth. Especially if you live outside the US.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Organic Maps. It uses OpenStreetMap as a backend, plus it has hiking trails as well.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Open Street Maps. It has some gaps or missed addresses/neighborhoods/roads because it is built on contributions of volunteers.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

For hiking and walking around the city open street map is great. I personally use mapy.cz - they work great and at least in central Europe - more accurate than google.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I like OsmAnd as a client for using open street maps. I hadn't heard of organic maps though which someone else mentioned- I'll have to give it a try!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

maps.me has been pretty good - they occasionally try various ways of monetizing it (the most recent one seems to be some kind of limit on map downloads) but it was a pretty straightforward OSM viewer with basic routing and searching.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Give Organic Maps a try; it's from some of the original creators of MapsWithMe/Maps.me: https://organicmaps.app/

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

+1 for organic maps. Been using that for the past year and it's awesome!

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Not FOSS but MagicEarth works pretty well and they are privacy friendly.

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