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This was fun to read, thanks! I hope you’ve already thrown away the device you’ve written this from.
I was wondering to pass to regular Navigator. There are many sold second hand . Why to use mobile for navigation? The only worry is the update of maps…
I love Organic Maps. Works on Android and IOS. Fully offline (maps predownload at first run) and all route calculation is locally computed so it’s especially good for hiking or where signal is poor.
Only thing I miss is live traffic updates but for me that’s an acceptable tradeoff for the ultimate offline privacy as far as a digital map can do it.
The voice it uses is whatever’s built into the phone’s accessibility features so on some devices it sounds a bit janky, but on Android at least you can install different ones if that bothers you.
I use Here We Go when i need live traffic and comaps other times.
https://www.comaps.app/news/2025-04-16/1/?ref=itsfoss.com
Check out CoMaps! Essentially the same.
If it meets your requirements, try Vela Maps which is a degoogled Google Maps.
" A degoogled maps & navigation client for Android - what NewPipe is to YouTube, for Google Maps. Open vector tiles for the basemap, the device itself scraping Google’s public web endpoints (per-user, no backend) for the things only Google does well: POI quality, routing, and traffic-aware ETAs. Built to run on GrapheneOS and other no-GMS ROMs. "
I think it’s a fairly new product and seems to be rapidly improving performance with quite a few updates lately. (I have discovered some glitches but they seem to be addressed as soon as the app updates the next time.)
It might meet your requirements because it’s not Google Maps.
It might not meet your requirements if you want a truly no-Google product, because it uses a few Google things anonymously in the back end…
This needs to be made a library so that someone can write an OsmAnd plugin for the POI search.
Super cool. had no idea that existed
I was using organic until CoMaps forked it, now CoMaps is the way. It’s open street map so you can sign up and fix whatever you want, pull down the next version and it’s there.
I do miss street view,
voiced street names, and really miss cowdsourced hazards from waze but it’s worth it if you’re not on a long high speed trip.edit: turns out you can turn on tts street names
I’m using OSMAnd+ myself. CoMaps is another one that uses OSM as the backend but is much more minimal in design.
For both, I use GeoShare which can interpet a google directions link when searching an address on my phone and pass it to OSMAnd+ or CoMaps (or, like, any other map app)
I use both, but I use OSMAnd~ for mobile mapping, and CoMaps for navigation.
I’ve just started using MapQuest like many others since the lake ontario thing. It’s been pretty good and I find it a lot more functional and accurate than the Foss options at the moment. It’s not perfect but it’s also not Google or apple.
More accurate how? It’s still OSM underneath isn’t it?
I found when I typed in locations by name or even lots of street addresses to OSM it would often give wrong results or just say cannot be found. Haven’t run into that at all with MapQuest, every address I type in has come up on the map. Type in company/business names and they pop up. Had trouble with that when I tried osm
If OSM isn’t good enough, make it better.
I spent an hour improving my hometown but that’s not where I need a map. I need it in places where I don’t know if it’s right or wrong.
truth is OSM has proven to be more accurate in areas I frequent vs Gmaps. We’ve got into multiple “situations” because of Gmaps
Like what?
Not op but one i encountered was that gmaps kept sending people down a private road with a locked gate before someone submitted feedback and got it changed
Sure, let me just fly my drone over everywhere in the world…
I use HERE WeGo. I switched over a month ago and haven’t had a problem yet.
I use that too! Kinda clunky but does the job. I prefer CoMaps - it seems smoother - but it doesn’t have all the actual addresses for the little towns I pass through.
I have a standalone GPS like it’s 2008, in addition to excellent offline navigation it also probably doesn’t spy on me
Comaps works well for me. If it’s not comprehensive enough, contribute! OSM is crowd-sourced.
I use CoMaps when navigating: https://www.comaps.app/
I also recommend Obtainium for installing it: https://obtainium.imranr.dev/
Trying to learn, what is the advantage of GMapsVW versus opening Google Maps in a mobile browser?
It’s also better if you know how to get there, its directions are typically very poorly optimized (although you’ll get there eventually).
That can be a good strategy, and please, if you can, once you find a place in GMapsWV that isn’t on OSM, add it to OSM so the map becomes better for everyone and we soon won’t need GMapsWV.
I contribute regularly with Street Complete
Thanks for the recommendation for GMapsWV. I didn’t know about that, and have always felt very uncomfortable when using Google Maps to find restaurants and such that aren’t always listed in OSM.
I had this talk with a friend the other week, but I can’t recommend enough that if something OSM based isn’t showing correctly, you can always add it in once you find the right answer. For example, if it doesn’t have hours listed for a business, I’ll go to their website and copy that data in, or if the address doesn’t show up right, I’ll edit the building with the correct address. I found the other day that the address for my apartment was listed over a garage up the street instead of my building and I just removed the one and added in the other.
I completely fixed my neighborhood of 800 homes. took me a week. I drew in the house shapes and the heights, turned the row home blocks into individual linked blocks with exact addresses and accurate sidewalks.
I’ve never added in height before. Does it just look for number of stories, or how did you find that info?
When you make an area->structure in osm, you can add it in the height meta in meters.
When an app uses the OSM data to draw a 3d structure, it can use your height data. (and most appear to)
CoMaps, which uses OpenStreetMap. StreetComplete gamifies adding data to OpenStreetMap.
Sometimes Magic Earth.The only time i use google is when i want street view.
No but I use comaps anyways
No. Most aren’t able to do basic navigation to addresses of people. I’d like it to be different but for me CoMaps and the other ones aren’t useful (yet)
I’ve generally been able to with Organic Maps. If the street address won’t get me exactly to them, I’ll add a mark right at their place on the map and route to that. That almost always works.
Probably because the area youre in is not mapped out, however the routing engine is pretty much on par with the ones by Garmin and others
Roads work but I do prefer entering a destination instead of going to a city and then having to figure out where the street and streetnumber are.
Especially since I only use navigation if i don’t already know where something is.
