Organic maps has been a really good app in my experience 👍
this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2024
269 points (97.2% liked)
Privacy
32173 readers
1086 users here now
A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.
Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.
In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.
Some Rules
- Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn't great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
- Don't promote proprietary software
- Try to keep things on topic
- If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
- Reposts are fine, but should have at least a couple of weeks in between so that the post can reach a new audience
- Be nice :)
Related communities
much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
The only problem I have is the search. It's very hard to find anything sometimes.
Yeah the search is not forgiving. One typo is enough to ruin the search results.
How well an area is mapped also matters a lot for search though. I now live somewhere that has all addresses in the country mapped from a government source. I didn't before, and it's so much easier now because at least I can just punch in the address and I'll find whatever I'm looking for.
Because it's based on OSM that anyone can commit changes to, it sometimes has areas mapped that Google maps don't. On my last skiing trip made everyone install it, because Google maps just didn't have a proper map of the resort we were staying in. Also works offline, very convenient when you only have broadband internet in the hotel.
I've been trying Organic Maps with Android Auto, and am struggling with it.
Search is hit and miss, which I can deal with, but its GPS tracking is wacky. It has Location and Precise Location permissions, but for some reason it's not as accurate as Google Maps or Sygic - its movement tracking is jerky, it will randomly put me off the road or on another road. And when stopped, it will sometimes point me in the opposite direction or even spin me around a couple of times lol.
It makes it hard to trust ☹️
Instead of a paid subscription for OsmAnd, you can also just install OsmAnd~ from F-Droid and get all the features for free... But it's fantastic software, consider a donation!
The don't support librepay
OSMin, Pure Maps, KDE Marble, and Mepo are all good choices if you're on desktop *nix or using non-Google mobile Linux.
Organic maps is the best
Although I miss the ability to avoid specific roads or areas
It lacks a lot of features. But I do recommend it to simple people who dont like a lot of features.
Simple is often good
Not for improving OSM data
If your area isn't mapped in openstreetmap, you can improve the map. I find it relaxing in a strange way
I saw a post recently where someone gamified improving OSM. Almost like a Niantic game. I'll try to find the app...
Edit: this was it https://streetcomplete.app/
Get to the appointment 20 minutes early? Circle the block and do some mapping.
I just ask chatgpt where to turn.
...I do spend a lot of time driving around on ocean floors
Locus Maps V3 is fantastic, one-time purchase too. I use Openandromaps with it.
I can't recommend the new V4 as it's a subscription.
Same setup here. Will check what's the state with new Locus version, maybe it finally has something that will win me over. I do not mind it being subscription too much, makes sense for continuous development, depends how much it is though.
~~MagicEarth~~
I think it's closed source and only on the play store.
If OSM is not mapped where you are. Use this de Google, Google maps, and then share your destination to OSM (or organic)
How are you guys setting up Osmand for bike navigation? Especially within a city I have the feeling it always gives me suboptimal ways. I only want to use cobblestone roads if absolutely necessary, I only want to use parallel streets if there is no dedicated bike path on the main road. In both cases I only find options with a too one-sided option.
Truthfully, I usually double-check with Strava heat maps to see where people are actually riding...
Bike navigation is unfortunately not good on osmand, and it's only slightly better on google maps. I'm also looking for something good there.
I’ve found it to be pretty good in my area although I did have to tweak the cycling profile to avoid unpaved, otherwise it really like to take me down out of the way gravel paths.
There’s a fair amount of customization …
Including surface types such as sett and cobble
That Osmand ain't good might have to do with the OSM map quality in your area.
I have been using Osmand with brouter as the routing engine, brouter plugin is available on f-droid. You can try out its routing for example on bikerouter.de, top left gives you a bunch of profiles to choose from or even edit them to your liking. Maybe you can find something that works better for you.
I am very happy with it.
Then just ignore its directions when it leads you away from the main road, it can't know every preference you have for every street. I'd guess generally you'd want it to not use main roads if there are alternatives.
Also maybe have a look if one of the brouter profiles may work better for you, maybe the road bike profiles keep you off the cobble stones, there is a brouter plugin for osmand on f-droid.
In my city? Really great, since people ride a fair bit here and there's a lot of protected and off-road routes that are correctly labelled. I have my settings set to choose a slightly longer route, instead of just the fastest. If I remember correctly, there were also settings for whether on/off road directions are preferred. I'm pretty much kept on bike paths all the time
I don't use navigation in the areas with cobblestone paths here though so can't comment on that.
For the bike map view I've enabled the clock widget, speed widget, and track recorder widget, as well as a shortcut to quickly toggle it on. I set it up about 2 years ago when my bicycle computer was stolen, haven't changed anything since.
While not open source, Here WeGo is also an alternative to Google. I think Here may be more focused on driving.
Unfortunately, google maps is much more than a map. Shops with ratings and business hours, traffic, public transports, sattelite and street views are typically missing from these alternatives (fair rating is likely impossible).
I like Organic Maps though in case if network issues. Hopes Kartaview succeeds too.
I've been loving Organic Maps with voice directions using Sherpa-Onnx. Hugging Face has a web page to test the voices before picking an APK
I tried using Osmand recently and unless I got something very wrong there is no free version to speak of. You get 6 free map downloads, and those maps are tiny. And when I deleted a map it turned out that it's literally 6 downloads. Even redownloading the same map counts towards that limit. I was expecting that deleting a map would allow me to download a different one, so that the limit would only mean that I can have 6 maps at a time and change them every now and then.
With this limit the app is only useful for people who stay in the same area all the time, and then you don't need a navigation app.
Download it from F-Droid store instead, the Play Store option only exists for funding AFAIK