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I think mapy [1] is the best frontend I've seen for OSM. Its search still isn't as good as Google Maps though. They also have iOS [2] and Android [3] apps. I

• afavour 2y ago
  I feel like an ass just for saying it but I downloaded the iOS app at the map style is so… busy. Granted I’m in NYC so there’s a lot going on but it’s showing me every single bus stop (there are literally seven in a one block radius) and building outlines even when zoomed out. It’s very visually overwhelming. This is something Google and Apple Maps really nail, I hope OSM can too at some point.
  • beej71 2y ago
    I get what you're asking here, but I think it's important to note that OSM's primary value is in its data, not in a human-consumable map. So if I could respectfully amend your request, I'd say I hope some third party can really nail this at some point. Organic Maps is pretty good, but I still need Google maps for a number of things. But even if that doesn't ever happen, the free OSM data is invaluable in a large number of GIS contexts. (I'm an opinionated OSM contributor since 2007. :)
    • jwagenet 2y ago
      Neither mapy nor the default tileset should have maximal information. Perhaps you can argue google is primarily for navigation and default OSM is not, but that doesn’t mean it should have all the OSM data represented at each layer.
    • afavour 2y ago
      > I think it's important to note that OSM's primary value is in its data, not in a human-consumable map I agree in theory but OSM does have a human consumable map. I think it’s in the projects interest for that default to be as good as it can be, rather than rely on third parties.
      • darthwalsh 2y ago
        There's often discussions in the default OSM map renderer project[1] about what the goal of the project should be. A lot of people have niche interests that they want implemented in the map, but that just looks busy to everybody else. [1] https://github.com/gravitystorm/openstreetmap-carto https://github.com/gravitystorm/openstreetmap-carto
  • jwagenet 2y ago
    IMO the default OSM tileset is terrible and the mapy set seems to be the same/similar. I guess it’s meant to show a lot of information, but the colors and patterns are noisy, the icons are too detailed, too many or too few things show up on the wrong layers. It’s been this way forever.
    • iggldiggl 2y ago
      For me, it still beats Google by miles when I need an actual map to orient myself or get a feel for the geography of a place, as opposed to the map merely being a convenient sort-of-geographical background for navigation instructions or the result of a POI search. Google doesn't always properly demarcate built-up areas, doesn't show forests, mistakes large-scale "Nature parks" for regular city parks and shades everything inside them in green, including complete towns and villages…
    • hoseja 2y ago
      This sort of sentiment results in flat design.