7 ms·

What are some reliable alternatives for both iOS and Android? I'm unsure how are Apple Maps, but they were hideous a while back for Eastern Europe at least.

b112 5y ago
Organic maps seems good, and I did take it for a test navigation drive. Not sure how it is long-term though.
nkrisc 5y ago
I've used Apple Maps for a while now and haven't noticed any real difference in from when I used to use Google Maps. So for me: Google Maps and Apple Maps are utterly interchangeable.
- jamiepenney 5y ago
  Same here - Apple Maps in New Zealand works just fine.
- can16358p 5y ago
  When that's the case Apple Maps would be a better choice as it doesn't try to suck all your privacy into its ad ecosystem.
  - asdff 5y ago
    My issue is it lacks a lot of local businesses. No point in using it if I have to go to google to find the business address anyhow.
    - can16358p 5y ago
      Yup that's also the issue for me. If I know where I'm going (just not how) it's not a problem. If I'm not sure where I'm going (like trying to find a place for the first time) it can be a problem.
    - andylynch 5y ago
      This is the one difference I see too - if it’s a place I know I’ll just go and add them to the map.
client4 5y ago
I use here, they are pretty great
morgunkorn 5y ago
I've been using Maps.me, it has great mapping material (OSM) and the navigation is decent. Been using it in the Caribbeans, GMaps and AMaps barely have street names there.
- shaicoleman 5y ago
  Organic Maps is the open source fork of Maps.me. It's very similar, but better maintained, and has less shady stuff
  - lkxijlewlf 5y ago
    I like Organic Maps, just hoping for Android auto support.
    - vanous 5y ago
      Are there ANY alternatives to the live traffic data that Google Maps or Waze collect and provide? I know how to get around but I want to make sure that I don't get stuck on the highway. I have been looking for an alternative for many years.
      - lkxijlewlf 5y ago
        I don't know. I think if something like Organic Maps got a critical mass of people using it and then integrated with Matrix so it could anonymously collect live traffic data and send it out, it would be amazing.
fsflover 5y ago
Not as reliable as those but getting there (and with lifetime updates): https://puri.sm/products/librem-5 https://puri.sm/products/librem-5 and https://pine64.org/pinephone https://pine64.org/pinephone.
Schiendelman 5y ago
There are still places in the world where Apple Maps isn't great, but for 90% of people they're now as good for navigation, if not better (since they've built a data gathering operation). Last year I used Apple Maps for a 34,000 mile road trip. No significant issues.
- asdff 5y ago
  The big pain point imo is that apple maps doesn't crawl for local business information as well as google. Many local businesses in LA do not show up on apple maps but have a presence on google maps. I wonder why apple maps engineers don't just crawl google maps and steal this data from them, I'm sure google would do the same.
  - icefo 5y ago
    Most map providers include some fake roads to fingerprint their map and Google probably does something similar for the businesses on Gmaps, so if they scraped the data it would be easy to prove they did it
  - Schiendelman 5y ago
    I think this is mostly that businesses don’t realize there are hundreds of millions of people using Apple Maps. It’s improving; it’s a tiny amount of work for them to get more customers, and they’re learning. I use the “report an issue” link periodically to fix things.
- aloukissas 5y ago
  I've switched to Apple Maps and it's been an improvement. Much better UI on CarPlay (subjective, but I find it to be easier to quickly read/decipher while driving). Still missing the "Yelp" part of Google Maps, there's not as much of a community there.
- jtbayly 5y ago
  Woah. That’s quite the road trip! What was it?
jlg23 5y ago
HERE WeGo[0] works remarkably well here in the north of Africa, much better than google maps or TomTom. [0] https://wego.here.com/ https://wego.here.com/
- Nextgrid 5y ago
  Watch out, Here Maps has the Facebook SDK malware embedded in it that will call home to Zuck on every app launch (at least) and send a device fingerprint and persistent identifier.
  - rkhleung 5y ago
    Reference?
    - Nextgrid 5y ago
      My own testing on iOS by monitoring the network traffic - I don't see why Android would be any different. Edit: Exodus Privacy also confirms that Facebook malware is indeed present: https://reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org/en/reports/com.here.app.maps/latest/ https://reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org/en/reports/com.here.ap...
  - walterbell 5y ago
    Very unfortunate, since HERE maps allows offline maps. We need a public registry of apps that embed tracking SDKs. And iOS needs an outbound firewall, now that it is shipping an App Privacy Report.
    - vinay427 5y ago
      > And iOS needs an outbound firewall This can already easily be added through third-party apps. Would a system-wide firewall be a worthwhile improvement? I suppose it would help to have it enabled by default for users who wouldn’t install a tracker firewall app afterwards.
      - 5y ago
jamesrr39 5y ago
OsmAnd: https://osmand.net/ https://osmand.net/ - open source, offline maps. Really great for outdoor sports, and has profiles for running, biking, skiing, etc, way better than Google Maps for that. Driving routes often give the same route as Google Maps for me. Some things are better on Google Maps though, such as live traffic and address lookup, so it depends what you want to use it for.
- beermonster 5y ago
  And supports off-line navigation IIRC.
  - LoveGracePeace 5y ago
    It does and though it uses a lot of storage, that's a great feature to have.
jaegerpicker 5y ago
I use Apple Maps in Northern New England (Maine, NH, Vermont, Eastern Canada) and it's actually a little better than Google here in my experience. Apple Maps also fully supports no tracking and a better offline mode IMO. If you are on iOS and in a location that Apple supports I'd highly recommend it.
- valarauko 5y ago
  Apple Maps has an offline mode?
devy 5y ago
Mapbox, HERE Maps, TomTom, MapQuest etc.
can16358p 5y ago
Apple Maps was terrible and Google was ok. Fast forward a few years and Apple Maps is now ok (not super but definitely usable) and Google Maps tried to kill me a few times by guiding me to go opposite direction into a highway or into buildings or other wrong directions. The data is super inaccurate on Google Maps. In Apple Maps it at least shows no road instead of generating roads with completely wrong data. (I live in Turkey, YMMV)
mtmail 5y ago
https://organicmaps.app/ https://organicmaps.app/ for iOS and Android. It's a fork of maps.me codebase. Maps.me added a crypto wallet and removed features.
tqwhite 5y ago
I have always detested Google and am a longtime Apple user. I use Maps exclusively and like it perfectly well. Occasionally there is an update that makes it a bit dumber but, that always goes away. It's very difficult imagine the marginal benefit of a different app that would overcome their strong brand commitment to privacy for me.

b112 5y ago

Organic maps seems good, and I did take it for a test navigation drive. Not sure how it is long-term though.

nkrisc 5y ago

I've used Apple Maps for a while now and haven't noticed any real difference in from when I used to use Google Maps. So for me: Google Maps and Apple Maps are utterly interchangeable.

jamiepenney 5y ago
Same here - Apple Maps in New Zealand works just fine.
can16358p 5y ago
When that's the case Apple Maps would be a better choice as it doesn't try to suck all your privacy into its ad ecosystem.
- asdff 5y ago
  My issue is it lacks a lot of local businesses. No point in using it if I have to go to google to find the business address anyhow.
  - can16358p 5y ago
    Yup that's also the issue for me. If I know where I'm going (just not how) it's not a problem. If I'm not sure where I'm going (like trying to find a place for the first time) it can be a problem.
  - andylynch 5y ago
    This is the one difference I see too - if it’s a place I know I’ll just go and add them to the map.

client4 5y ago

I use here, they are pretty great

morgunkorn 5y ago

I've been using Maps.me, it has great mapping material (OSM) and the navigation is decent. Been using it in the Caribbeans, GMaps and AMaps barely have street names there.

shaicoleman 5y ago
Organic Maps is the open source fork of Maps.me. It's very similar, but better maintained, and has less shady stuff
- lkxijlewlf 5y ago
  I like Organic Maps, just hoping for Android auto support.
  - vanous 5y ago
    Are there ANY alternatives to the live traffic data that Google Maps or Waze collect and provide? I know how to get around but I want to make sure that I don't get stuck on the highway. I have been looking for an alternative for many years.
    - lkxijlewlf 5y ago
      I don't know. I think if something like Organic Maps got a critical mass of people using it and then integrated with Matrix so it could anonymously collect live traffic data and send it out, it would be amazing.

fsflover 5y ago

Not as reliable as those but getting there (and with lifetime updates): https://puri.sm/products/librem-5 https://puri.sm/products/librem-5 and https://pine64.org/pinephone https://pine64.org/pinephone.

Schiendelman 5y ago

There are still places in the world where Apple Maps isn't great, but for 90% of people they're now as good for navigation, if not better (since they've built a data gathering operation). Last year I used Apple Maps for a 34,000 mile road trip. No significant issues.

asdff 5y ago
The big pain point imo is that apple maps doesn't crawl for local business information as well as google. Many local businesses in LA do not show up on apple maps but have a presence on google maps. I wonder why apple maps engineers don't just crawl google maps and steal this data from them, I'm sure google would do the same.
- icefo 5y ago
  Most map providers include some fake roads to fingerprint their map and Google probably does something similar for the businesses on Gmaps, so if they scraped the data it would be easy to prove they did it
- Schiendelman 5y ago
  I think this is mostly that businesses don’t realize there are hundreds of millions of people using Apple Maps. It’s improving; it’s a tiny amount of work for them to get more customers, and they’re learning. I use the “report an issue” link periodically to fix things.
aloukissas 5y ago
I've switched to Apple Maps and it's been an improvement. Much better UI on CarPlay (subjective, but I find it to be easier to quickly read/decipher while driving). Still missing the "Yelp" part of Google Maps, there's not as much of a community there.
jtbayly 5y ago
Woah. That’s quite the road trip! What was it?

jlg23 5y ago

HERE WeGo[0] works remarkably well here in the north of Africa, much better than google maps or TomTom. [0] https://wego.here.com/ https://wego.here.com/

Nextgrid 5y ago
Watch out, Here Maps has the Facebook SDK malware embedded in it that will call home to Zuck on every app launch (at least) and send a device fingerprint and persistent identifier.
- rkhleung 5y ago
  Reference?
  - Nextgrid 5y ago
    My own testing on iOS by monitoring the network traffic - I don't see why Android would be any different. Edit: Exodus Privacy also confirms that Facebook malware is indeed present: https://reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org/en/reports/com.here.app.maps/latest/ https://reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org/en/reports/com.here.ap...
- walterbell 5y ago
  Very unfortunate, since HERE maps allows offline maps. We need a public registry of apps that embed tracking SDKs. And iOS needs an outbound firewall, now that it is shipping an App Privacy Report.
  - vinay427 5y ago
    > And iOS needs an outbound firewall This can already easily be added through third-party apps. Would a system-wide firewall be a worthwhile improvement? I suppose it would help to have it enabled by default for users who wouldn’t install a tracker firewall app afterwards.
    - 5y ago

jamesrr39 5y ago

OsmAnd: https://osmand.net/ https://osmand.net/ - open source, offline maps. Really great for outdoor sports, and has profiles for running, biking, skiing, etc, way better than Google Maps for that. Driving routes often give the same route as Google Maps for me. Some things are better on Google Maps though, such as live traffic and address lookup, so it depends what you want to use it for.

beermonster 5y ago
And supports off-line navigation IIRC.
- LoveGracePeace 5y ago
  It does and though it uses a lot of storage, that's a great feature to have.

jaegerpicker 5y ago

I use Apple Maps in Northern New England (Maine, NH, Vermont, Eastern Canada) and it's actually a little better than Google here in my experience. Apple Maps also fully supports no tracking and a better offline mode IMO. If you are on iOS and in a location that Apple supports I'd highly recommend it.

valarauko 5y ago
Apple Maps has an offline mode?

devy 5y ago

Mapbox, HERE Maps, TomTom, MapQuest etc.

can16358p 5y ago

Apple Maps was terrible and Google was ok. Fast forward a few years and Apple Maps is now ok (not super but definitely usable) and Google Maps tried to kill me a few times by guiding me to go opposite direction into a highway or into buildings or other wrong directions. The data is super inaccurate on Google Maps. In Apple Maps it at least shows no road instead of generating roads with completely wrong data. (I live in Turkey, YMMV)

mtmail 5y ago

https://organicmaps.app/ https://organicmaps.app/ for iOS and Android. It's a fork of maps.me codebase. Maps.me added a crypto wallet and removed features.

tqwhite 5y ago

I have always detested Google and am a longtime Apple user. I use Maps exclusively and like it perfectly well. Occasionally there is an update that makes it a bit dumber but, that always goes away. It's very difficult imagine the marginal benefit of a different app that would overcome their strong brand commitment to privacy for me.