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.
Magic Earth seems much more complete than OSM from experience, which is curious considering they use OSM data. I wonder where they get the extra info.
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.
Probably better to use local services.
Also they are way slower
I second this. OsmAnd has done me well for several years.
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.
I don’t think any open-source products have anything close to what Google Maps offers.
Microsoft has Here which also does a bit of vehicle tracking to get traffic data. I think TomTom may still be in business, but that’s quite expensive.
Some governments have their own accident/road disturbance databases available for companies or the public, but you’ll have to be lucky to find ones that support your local area if your government even provides such a service.
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.
OsmAnd~ is free on fdroid
Including all maps and features?
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
Wow awesome!
i found this out after reading through osmand documentation and seeing a bunch of features marked as premium that I DEFINITELY hadn’t paid for, and trying to figure out what happened lol
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!