10 ms·

Maps.me is OSM under the hood, and it's very popular and far ahead of the Google offering on features and completeness.

blinding-streak 6y ago
Citation needed.
lukeqsee 6y ago
Agreed. It just has a cluttered and sometimes confusing interface (in my experience) which makes it difficult for me to intuitively use it for routing especially. So I typically use Apple Maps for routing—because it just works and is easy.
TulliusCicero 6y ago
Open source software is often comparable or even superior to the proprietary sort in feature set, the kind of thing you can list in bullet points. But it tends to fall down when it comes to user experience. I remember attempting to use OSM on my phone before, and I remember being similarly confused about "which app should I use?" and the ones I tried just being fairly clunky. But I'll give maps.me a try, I can't remember if that was one of them.
- mixedCase 6y ago
  OsmAnd~ (F-Droid build) has been serving me well for the past 5 years or so and it's gotten a lot of love over time in the UI/UX side.
  - paulryanrogers 6y ago
    Is the tilde part of the name?
    - asddubs 6y ago
      Yes, and it's only on F-Droid. Apparently there's OsmAnd and OsmAnd+, and the one with the tilde is basically the + version with no dependencies on google services. At least according to german wikipedia, which had a convenient little table
      - greazy 6y ago
        I can not find it on F-Driod. What am I doing wrong... I see OsmAnd+ but not ~ version.
        asddubs 6y ago
        maybe they renamed it, I was just reciting wikipedia, it might be outdated. In any case, OsmAnd+ is the paid version that OsmAnd~ is supposed to be equivalent to, so I imagine they just decided to rename it to make things less confusing e: I can see it on the f-droid site, but i can't find it in the f-droid app either: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/net.osmand.plus/ https://f-droid.org/en/packages/net.osmand.plus/ metadata seems to be the same though (e.g. last update dates)
        paulryanrogers 6y ago
        Looks like the '+'plus symbol manifests as tilde outside FDroid.
        usr1106 6y ago
        It has always been confusing. But there is only one variant in F-Droid. It is described as OsmAnd+ but the installed app is called OsmAnd~.
  - CameronNemo 6y ago
    Unfortunately OsmAnd misses a tremendous quantity of addresses from where I live.
    - yaomtc 6y ago
      At least here in the USA, address locations are not public data in most of the country. City maps are generally copyrighted and cannot be used in OpenStreetMap. Google has paid for access to proprietary address data. Osmand isn't a source of data, it is not at fault here. OSM contributors need to add addresses manually by walking down the street and using an OSM mobile app like StreetComplete to fill in the gaps.
      - maxerickson 6y ago
        It really depends on the jurisdiction. Lots of cities and counties have open data, and lots of states too. There's also a national database that looks pretty interesting: https://www.transportation.gov/gis/national-address-database/national-address-database-nad-disclaimer https://www.transportation.gov/gis/national-address-database...
      - deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
      - TulliusCicero 6y ago
        Not being at fault doesn't change the resulting user experience. Though it does suck that those localities charge money for data access.
      - raffraffraff 6y ago
        So I'm no power user, but I've been using OsmAnd instead of Google Maps as a simple map app for about a year. If I just need Street names, fine. If I need to search for any business address, it sucks. I still need Google Maps on my device. You say "contributors need to add addresses..." but this is so unintuitive that it's simply not going to happen in over 99% of cases. I say this as someone who really believes in the cause and who therefore makes up the 1% that would be willing to spend the time improving the data. (I still buy digital music and manually add my own mood/instrument tags, if you want a 'for instance') So why don't I? Case in point: I wanted directions to a restaurant that opened near me about 2 years ago. Couldn't find it. So I walked there, ordered my food and while waiting for it to be served, manually navigated to the map position and found the previous restaurant was still listed. As far as I could see, there was no way for me to edit the map entry within OsmAnd. As an interested party, willing to invest some initial setup and learning time, and ongoing edit time of a minute or two, I completely failed. There's nothing in the UI to even hint at how to edit the address. A 'regular user' isn't even going to bother trying. At this rate, the world will change much faster than the OSM data.
  - pmontra 6y ago
    The UI improved but it's still a maze of options and menus. I use it to plan my cycling routes but I gave up on the navigation features. Creating a route from markers is a nightmare of complexity. Then there is the problem that with a bicycle I can ride on pretty much every surface and it's impossible for the poor thing to guess an itinerary I would like. Not it's fault. What I do is discovering roads and paths with OsmAnd, checking them with the satellite view of Google Maps and sometimes also with Street View, then placing markers in OsmAnd and following them when I'm on the new areas I still don't know. If OSM had satellite pictures I could do without Google Maps for that. I would still use it to check the opening hours of shops.
    - MayeulC 6y ago
      Well, you can add online tiles to OSMAnd as an overlay, it supports multiple providers (even custom ones, so you could use the high quality IGN Ortho for France, for instance). I actually quite like the route's output. > Creating a route from markers is a nightmare of complexity. Is it really so complex? Globe icon or menu -> switch to cycling profile -> itinerary icon -> adjust start position and destination, markers are suggested when tapping on either. You can add more intermediate markers by tapping the "+" between source and dest. You can press any part of the map -> directions -> add as {subsequent, first intermediate, last intermediate} destination. You can also tap existing markers to do so. In my opinion, it doesn't get much easier than this? I was so confused at google maps' interface when I was handed a phone to plan a route three days ago, it felt like it was burried down more menus, reorganizing destinations was a pain, while it's just edit -> drag and drop in OSMAnd. For biking, also try brouter: http://brouter.de/ http://brouter.de/ I know it can be used with OSMAnd, but I never spent enough time to figure it out. The web version is quite good already.
- maxerickson 6y ago
  This can be a tumultuous time to try maps.me. It recently got a new owner that decided to use it as a distribution channel for their digital wallet. I'm not sure where it stands right now, but at one point they had thrown away the previous app nearly entirely.
  - matthberg 6y ago
    For more context check out [0], which had a major discussion when it was posted. In short, the source code of Maps.me is open source and people are working on building from that, yet the Maps.me you find in the play store isn't the same as the one so many people recommend. 0: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25515004 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25515004
    - creato 6y ago
      This kind of garbage is why open source software can't compete with the likes of Google. I started out reading this comment chain thinking "great, I'm going to try maps.me". 10 seconds later, I've learned I can't just try it, I have to find the right fork, of which I see several, each with people mentioning serious caveats. And who knows when the currently best fork will get taken over by the next wallet software huckster?
      - ptero 6y ago
        There are benefits to dictatorships in software, which can help avoid fragmentation and give customers "the one right choice". However, such dictatorships tend to falter and fail as the desire to serve the masses with a simple, yet effective option morphs into disregard of user preferences and rent seeking as those users are locked in. Google is a powerhouse today, but that power is built on a lot of the open source software (e.g., Android) that you claim cannot compete. I am willing to bet a significant sum of money that within the next 10 years Google (which by now forgot its "do not be evil" origins) will be successfully challenged on both the search and the mapping fronts by an upstart leveraging some open source software. My 2c.
      - Brian_K_White 6y ago
patrickk 6y ago
HERE Maps (called 'Here WeGo' on the App Store) is usually better than Google maps for me in a car, at least in Europe. It's owned by the German car industry and used to be Nokia maps.
- NonEUCitizen 6y ago
  Prior to being bought by Nokia, HERE was Navteq. The very early version of Google maps actually included a notice that data was licensed from Navteq -- I learned of Navteq from Google Maps. I believe Bing maps also licensed data from Navteq.
- 0ld 6y ago
  just a quick check for a route in my (european) city showed it tries to route me through a road closed 5 months ago, and doesnt even know my 4 years old house exists. this isnt the case with gmaps id really like to use less google, but unfortunately gmaps doesnt appear to really have a viable alternative for my (pretty common) use case of traffic-aware city navigator
ce4 6y ago
Maps.me was recently sold and got a lot of negative press for their latest changes (becoming more GMaps like, hiding detail etc). Discussion from 11d ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25515004 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25515004

Citation needed.

Agreed. It just has a cluttered and sometimes confusing interface (in my experience) which makes it difficult for me to intuitively use it for routing especially. So I typically use Apple Maps for routing—because it just works and is easy.

TulliusCicero 6y ago

Open source software is often comparable or even superior to the proprietary sort in feature set, the kind of thing you can list in bullet points. But it tends to fall down when it comes to user experience. I remember attempting to use OSM on my phone before, and I remember being similarly confused about "which app should I use?" and the ones I tried just being fairly clunky. But I'll give maps.me a try, I can't remember if that was one of them.

mixedCase 6y ago
OsmAnd~ (F-Droid build) has been serving me well for the past 5 years or so and it's gotten a lot of love over time in the UI/UX side.
- paulryanrogers 6y ago
  Is the tilde part of the name?
  - asddubs 6y ago
    Yes, and it's only on F-Droid. Apparently there's OsmAnd and OsmAnd+, and the one with the tilde is basically the + version with no dependencies on google services. At least according to german wikipedia, which had a convenient little table
    - greazy 6y ago
      I can not find it on F-Driod. What am I doing wrong... I see OsmAnd+ but not ~ version.
      - asddubs 6y ago
        maybe they renamed it, I was just reciting wikipedia, it might be outdated. In any case, OsmAnd+ is the paid version that OsmAnd~ is supposed to be equivalent to, so I imagine they just decided to rename it to make things less confusing e: I can see it on the f-droid site, but i can't find it in the f-droid app either: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/net.osmand.plus/ https://f-droid.org/en/packages/net.osmand.plus/ metadata seems to be the same though (e.g. last update dates)
      - paulryanrogers 6y ago
        Looks like the '+'plus symbol manifests as tilde outside FDroid.
        usr1106 6y ago
        It has always been confusing. But there is only one variant in F-Droid. It is described as OsmAnd+ but the installed app is called OsmAnd~.
- CameronNemo 6y ago
  Unfortunately OsmAnd misses a tremendous quantity of addresses from where I live.
  - yaomtc 6y ago
    At least here in the USA, address locations are not public data in most of the country. City maps are generally copyrighted and cannot be used in OpenStreetMap. Google has paid for access to proprietary address data. Osmand isn't a source of data, it is not at fault here. OSM contributors need to add addresses manually by walking down the street and using an OSM mobile app like StreetComplete to fill in the gaps.
    - maxerickson 6y ago
      It really depends on the jurisdiction. Lots of cities and counties have open data, and lots of states too. There's also a national database that looks pretty interesting: https://www.transportation.gov/gis/national-address-database/national-address-database-nad-disclaimer https://www.transportation.gov/gis/national-address-database...
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - TulliusCicero 6y ago
      Not being at fault doesn't change the resulting user experience. Though it does suck that those localities charge money for data access.
    - raffraffraff 6y ago
      So I'm no power user, but I've been using OsmAnd instead of Google Maps as a simple map app for about a year. If I just need Street names, fine. If I need to search for any business address, it sucks. I still need Google Maps on my device. You say "contributors need to add addresses..." but this is so unintuitive that it's simply not going to happen in over 99% of cases. I say this as someone who really believes in the cause and who therefore makes up the 1% that would be willing to spend the time improving the data. (I still buy digital music and manually add my own mood/instrument tags, if you want a 'for instance') So why don't I? Case in point: I wanted directions to a restaurant that opened near me about 2 years ago. Couldn't find it. So I walked there, ordered my food and while waiting for it to be served, manually navigated to the map position and found the previous restaurant was still listed. As far as I could see, there was no way for me to edit the map entry within OsmAnd. As an interested party, willing to invest some initial setup and learning time, and ongoing edit time of a minute or two, I completely failed. There's nothing in the UI to even hint at how to edit the address. A 'regular user' isn't even going to bother trying. At this rate, the world will change much faster than the OSM data.
- pmontra 6y ago
  The UI improved but it's still a maze of options and menus. I use it to plan my cycling routes but I gave up on the navigation features. Creating a route from markers is a nightmare of complexity. Then there is the problem that with a bicycle I can ride on pretty much every surface and it's impossible for the poor thing to guess an itinerary I would like. Not it's fault. What I do is discovering roads and paths with OsmAnd, checking them with the satellite view of Google Maps and sometimes also with Street View, then placing markers in OsmAnd and following them when I'm on the new areas I still don't know. If OSM had satellite pictures I could do without Google Maps for that. I would still use it to check the opening hours of shops.
  - MayeulC 6y ago
    Well, you can add online tiles to OSMAnd as an overlay, it supports multiple providers (even custom ones, so you could use the high quality IGN Ortho for France, for instance). I actually quite like the route's output. > Creating a route from markers is a nightmare of complexity. Is it really so complex? Globe icon or menu -> switch to cycling profile -> itinerary icon -> adjust start position and destination, markers are suggested when tapping on either. You can add more intermediate markers by tapping the "+" between source and dest. You can press any part of the map -> directions -> add as {subsequent, first intermediate, last intermediate} destination. You can also tap existing markers to do so. In my opinion, it doesn't get much easier than this? I was so confused at google maps' interface when I was handed a phone to plan a route three days ago, it felt like it was burried down more menus, reorganizing destinations was a pain, while it's just edit -> drag and drop in OSMAnd. For biking, also try brouter: http://brouter.de/ http://brouter.de/ I know it can be used with OSMAnd, but I never spent enough time to figure it out. The web version is quite good already.
maxerickson 6y ago
This can be a tumultuous time to try maps.me. It recently got a new owner that decided to use it as a distribution channel for their digital wallet. I'm not sure where it stands right now, but at one point they had thrown away the previous app nearly entirely.
- matthberg 6y ago
  For more context check out [0], which had a major discussion when it was posted. In short, the source code of Maps.me is open source and people are working on building from that, yet the Maps.me you find in the play store isn't the same as the one so many people recommend. 0: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25515004 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25515004
  - creato 6y ago
    This kind of garbage is why open source software can't compete with the likes of Google. I started out reading this comment chain thinking "great, I'm going to try maps.me". 10 seconds later, I've learned I can't just try it, I have to find the right fork, of which I see several, each with people mentioning serious caveats. And who knows when the currently best fork will get taken over by the next wallet software huckster?
    - ptero 6y ago
      There are benefits to dictatorships in software, which can help avoid fragmentation and give customers "the one right choice". However, such dictatorships tend to falter and fail as the desire to serve the masses with a simple, yet effective option morphs into disregard of user preferences and rent seeking as those users are locked in. Google is a powerhouse today, but that power is built on a lot of the open source software (e.g., Android) that you claim cannot compete. I am willing to bet a significant sum of money that within the next 10 years Google (which by now forgot its "do not be evil" origins) will be successfully challenged on both the search and the mapping fronts by an upstart leveraging some open source software. My 2c.
    - Brian_K_White 6y ago

patrickk 6y ago

HERE Maps (called 'Here WeGo' on the App Store) is usually better than Google maps for me in a car, at least in Europe. It's owned by the German car industry and used to be Nokia maps.

NonEUCitizen 6y ago
Prior to being bought by Nokia, HERE was Navteq. The very early version of Google maps actually included a notice that data was licensed from Navteq -- I learned of Navteq from Google Maps. I believe Bing maps also licensed data from Navteq.
0ld 6y ago
just a quick check for a route in my (european) city showed it tries to route me through a road closed 5 months ago, and doesnt even know my 4 years old house exists. this isnt the case with gmaps id really like to use less google, but unfortunately gmaps doesnt appear to really have a viable alternative for my (pretty common) use case of traffic-aware city navigator

ce4 6y ago

Maps.me was recently sold and got a lot of negative press for their latest changes (becoming more GMaps like, hiding detail etc). Discussion from 11d ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25515004 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25515004