Started using Startpage a few months ago at the recommendation of a co-worker. It uses Google instead of Bing for search results, which is why I started using it, but I learned that it describes itself as:
“an Industry-leading omnichannel digital marketing platform, powered by Machine Learning and AI, that monetizes internet traffic by putting the right ads in front of the right people at the right time.”
Waze used to have a feature where you could turn your vehicle into a little pacman and gobble up dots on the route for points… it caused problems (obviously) but was fun.
Back in my day we used MapQuest to print out directions to whatever music festival or concert we were going to.
Why anyone would trust any of this shit is beyond me.
Get a map, on paper. Learn to read it. Krinkle it up in your friends ear and tell them it’s ASMR. Maps don’t sell your data, and if there’s an advertisement you can draw a moustache on it. In Australia, the blank back side of the map used to have local wild edibles with pictures and descriptions by Bush Tucker Man.
Alas it’s getting increasingly hard to find paper maps a lot of places. They’re just not sold anymore. If you find yourself in or near one of these places, I recommend CoMaps
Not only that, but some road networks have gotten a lot more complex because everyone has a GPS or mapping software now.
I grew up when paper maps were already on the way out, so maybe it’s a ‘skill issue’ for me, but I would have a rough time figuring out lane changes and exits if I had to travel to a new part of greater Vancouver for the first time without GPS. It works fine when everyone is using software to help navigate, and I expect that it would be a mess otherwise.
Lane changes and exits sometimes mess me up even with digital directions! Some of them are designed like shit and then addotionally described like shit by the mapping software.
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OpenStreetMaps?
OSM doesn’t have live navigation; CoMaps uses OSM data.
That’s technically true but pretty misleading. Sure, OpenStreetMap just serves the map. Every OSM app though (OsmAnd, organic maps (comaps), etc) runs live navigation local to the device.
OrganicMapsCoMaps is another OSM client with buzzOrganic Maps is what comaps forked from. You don’t want to use that one.
oops, forgot. Pretend I said CoMaps.
Absolutly.
Seconding OpenStreetMap. You can download the maps for offline use, and there are plenty of FOSS apps that use it. It’s incomplete in some areas, but if you’re at the point of physical paper maps, you may as well channel that friction into contributing here and there and helping improve it for others.