I actually think Apple Maps has gotten pretty good. I think they are better than Google at directions, Google is better at discovery.
I know that’s probably not the alternative you’re looking for, but it’s something.
Comaps works well for me. If it’s not comprehensive enough, contribute! OSM is crowd-sourced.
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)
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.
for basic things openstreetmaps based ones (comaps organic maps), for anything else no.
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.
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’ve tried several over the past few weeks. There aren’t any that can even do the basic job of mapping from point a to b consistently for some reason. Mapquest came the closest, but 3 issues.
- It won’t stay in landscape mode unless I put my tablet on Dex
- It often can’t find addresses based on business names, and sometimes not at all.
- It doesn’t have wide enough categories to find a good amount of places if you don’t know the address or name of what you’re wanting
I like the interface, it looks nice, but it’s missing key map things, that should be the basics over things like a unicorn icon, which is cute, but useless.
Paper map?
I can never find anything on OSM based maps by themselves. My current method is to search via the Apple Maps web beta then use geoshare to copy the location to CoMaps for turn-by-turn. I have magic earth installed as a fallback if I have problems with comaps.
Oh wow that’s an excellent app, now I don’t have to suffer when friends send me google links
good or better then google maps, no, they’re are a trillion $ company with major resoirces
I use OSMAnd+ its a little bit shit but ot gets me by. I also edit a little bit of Open Street maps in my area to help
This right here; if I can ever manage to get my transmission fixed, I can start recording my DoorDash trips, again. OSM is painfully lacking info in my city.
The foldable paper ones that you picked up at the gas station or tourist kiosk were the best and they were immune to name change updates.
They get outdated when names change, detours are required, anywhere they don’t exist, lack public transit, don’t have live traffic info, and don’t even show you where you are.
Who cares? Most of that list is negligible and the rest is a specific real-time occurrence that may not even be updated in a timely manner on the tech side. The underlying geography and major routes don’t change. Grab an old map and hit the road, you’ll find it’s mostly correct but you do need illumination if operating it in the dark.
I’m sure this is safe to do while driving
I use CoMaps and Vela Maps.
I’m not sure how it stacks up with the rest, but for web: https://mapcarta.com/
“Explore the globe with Mapcarta—the open map that unites the world through the collective knowledge of OpenStreetMap, Wikipedia, Wikidata, and other open projects.”
Comaps is what I use because it is free, Osmand+ is what you should use if you are willing to pay a bit, but don’t use Organic Maps.
Osmand is free on fdroid. Comaps is probably a better google maps substitute for most people though. Osmand has deep features but is comparitively a bit clunky.
Whats wrong with organic? I’ve used all of these and it felt almost identical to comaps
https://itsfoss.com/news/organic-maps-fork-comaps/
Despite being advertised as a community-driven project, key decisions, including financial management, partnerships (with Kayak, for instance), and the inclusion of proprietary components in the code were made by a small group of shareholders, often without input from the broader contributor community. These shareholders have reportedly used the project’s donation funds for personal expenses, like holiday trips, raising serious concerns about financial transparency.
Which is why they forked CoMaps.
Oh wow, thanks for letting me know












