I’m sick of using google maps, they started putting gigantic ads for stores on the map and I’m tired of them tracking me. So I ask you Lemmy, what should I switch to?!
EDIT: Was not expecting so many replies, thank you Lemmy! I am checking out Open Street Maps currently thanks for the recommendations!
Any OpenStreetMap (OSM) app/website:
Organic Maps on iOS/Android: https://organicmaps.app/
OsmAnd (small price) on Android/iOS: https://osmand.net/
OpenStreetMap off course: https://www.openstreetmap.org/
OsmAnd web maps: https://osmand.net/map/
Maybe some things like TomTom Go or Sygic Maps (is this still a thing?)
None of them seem up to date on public transport when I tried, which makes it kind of useless
Public transport in Magic Earth mostly works for me. It’s not as good as Google Maps, but it’s better than nothing.
Organic Maps is planning on implementing it. For now I just use a dedicated app for that though, ÖPNV Navigator is great for Germany for example.
yeah, OsmAnd is open source, so someone else built it to be released on fdroid, and the original developers have said that they don’t have a problem with that I think as long as they don’t release it on Play/try to sell it
Do you know which of these has the most updated real-time traffic data, like for accidents and road closures? I depend heavily on maps not just for navigation but to also get the fastest routes to my destination. Obviously google maps is great with that because of the sheer amount of crowsourced data it collects, but it’s also effective with rerouting quickly for unpredictable events.
Magic Earth is closed source but it claims it respects the users privacy, it uses open street maps and it has decent traffic data for navigation for some countries. It also has the advantage that you can configure it to stick to the original route if you prefer. This is very important for me because sometimes I want to take a scenic route, or just routes I prefer but that are not necessarily the fastest.
Thanks! This looks promising. Unfortunately it doesn’t even have my address yet (new neighborhood). I’ll park it in the meantime but will definitely keep it on my phone and will try it on familiar routes (in case something goes wrong).
I love OSM in so many ways, but unfortunately its address resolver is kinda garbage compared to Google Maps. For example, the string “10392 SE 23, portland, or, usa” correctly resolves to what I meant, “10392 SE 23rd Ave, Milwaukie, OR, USA” in Google Maps. OSM needs the exact city (Milwaukie is a suburb of Portland) and the “rd” on 23 to resolve.
OsmAnd is free with enough contributions to OpenStreetMap.
Personally, I was using MagicEarth for public transport when needed but it’s stopped working for some reasons. Once Organic Maps gets support for public transport (currently it only provides train times for me), I’ll fully move there. It’s great for everything else though!
organic maps has gotten pretty good recently
Thank you for this, I like the map design, and it claims to work with car play!
Second this. It’s also way better than Google maps for downloading and using maps outside of cell service too. I’ve noticed it’s got lots of hiking trails as well
There are no street numbers in osm for my city, Bend, OR. It has a population of 100,000+, so I’m guessing this app is really only useable for major cities.
Install StreetComplete and put some of them in. Spread the word, it’s really low effort.
True to some extent. I know there’s been a big effort to get buildings mapped in the US, but it’s not always possible to get house/street numbers from aerial imagery.
Once buildings are mapped you can either add the remainder of the details with on the ground mapping (e.g using an app like StreetComplete) or if the data (e.g from the government) becomes open and available to use.
It’s all dependant on the community, if there’s missing data that you can add, please do! StreetComplete is a very acessible way to contribute
I’ve contributed a little, but its a bit discouraging. It’s not like can just map the whole city myself
I’ve used OSM while staying in a smaller town and the street data was good. It obviously depends on how much the public has contributed to data for your area, which is likely to be a lot for major cities, but there may also be people contributing decent data for less populous areas too.
I don’t like that it doesn’t give me alternative route options, there are times I want the shortest, not the quickest, or sometimes I want to stick to main roads, and not go through small villages even though I might save 5 minutes. Also, being offline, the routing for a long journey can be cumbersome in my potato phone/aftermarket android car radio.
Any openstreet map clients, I enjoy magic earth
I use osmand for hikes as it has all the obscure trails.
The ui could be better.
Have a look at Organic Maps if you don’t need all the features of OSMand. It is simpler but more polished with a clean and tidy UI.
I just switched to MagicEarth since it works with Android Auto. Pretty happy with it so far.
Some great apps have already been mentioned here so I’ll share a last resort if you need: GMaps WV (Google Maps WebView Wrapper). It’s Google maps in a restricted sandbox made by the Divest OS dev and app is on FDroid.
When I used it on a more regular basis a year ago it didn’t have ads and after installing it just now to test and share this, I haven’t found any either.
Privacy wise it’s not as good as omsand~ or Open Street map but you could use it on another profile in your phone if you have android if that is a concern.
More info can be found here along with the source code of the wrapper: Https://divestos.org/pages/our_apps#gmapswv
