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CoMaps: New OSM based navigation app
- gedankenstuecke 1y agoLaunched for iOS and Android today
- Dunedan 1y agoTheir repository description: > The main code repository of CoMaps, a community-led fork of Organic Maps. Reinforced with commitment to transparency, privacy and being not-for-profit.
- PetitPrince 1y agoPrevious HN discussion for context: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43961908 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43961908
- dang 1y agoThanks! Macroexpanded: A community-led fork of Organic Maps - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43961908 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43961908 - May 2025 (206 comments)
- urcite_ty_kokos 1y agoDoes it have some other "actual" featuges compared to OrganicMaps?
- rckt 1y agoOh, finally the iOS build. Ok. If this lifts off well I'll start donating.
- jamil7 1y agoI haven't followed whats going on with Organic Maps but I continue to use it and have donated to it in the past. Why the fork?
- mbirth 1y agoHere’s the open letter about it: https://openletter.earth/open-letter-to-organic-maps-shareholders-a0bf770c https://openletter.earth/open-letter-to-organic-maps-shareho...
- dijital 1y agoPreviously discussed on HN here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43961908 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43961908 Original letter regarding the dispute with Organic Map is here: https://openletter.earth/open-letter-to-organic-maps-shareholders-a0bf770c https://openletter.earth/open-letter-to-organic-maps-shareho...
- ramzez 1y agosite doesn't doesn't even properly render in safari
- jeroenhd 1y agoComing from OsmAnd, I'm always impressed by the performance of the maps.me forks, but I find their feature set rather limiting. The route planning in particular seems rather naïve, at least from what I can tell when planning routes I know well. This would send me straight into traffic light-laden roads (that, on paper, if I were the only driver, would be the shortest distance). That said, if you're just looking for a simple maps app, I suppose OsmAnd could be quite overwhelming and this would probably be a lot better. I never really got what the Organic Maps drama was about, but as long as the two can peacefully coexist I hope they'll work together to make their apps as good as they can be.
- Mashimo 1y agoAre there any sources that open source apps can use to get traffic information?
- jeroenhd 1y agoThere are government databases and various public-private partnerships, but the most common method of traffic information is by collecting users' information while driving. There are companies that resell access to that data too: https://www.mapbox.com/traffic-data https://www.mapbox.com/traffic-data OpenStreetMap doesn't even seem interested in things like "this street is closed next week Tuesday", but maybe there's another open project that collects this information for maps apps. I don't know any, though.
- habi 1y ago> OpenStreetMap doesn't even seem interested in things like "this street is closed next week Tuesday" OpenStreetMap data consumers can have much longer update cycles than "next week", so it makes sense to have such information outside of the map data if you are implementing a router.
- mnmalst 1y agoI feel the same. I just installed it and there are almost no features besides the map of course. I am super happy with osmand.
- teeray 1y agoI was lamenting the other day how stagnant the whole navigation app space has become. It seemed like Waze was the last innovative one, and that was quenched after they were acquired by Google. It’s nice to see a new entrant in the category.
- worldsavior 1y agoIs there any difference from Organic Maps? What's up with the forks?
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- spacemule 1y agoThe biggest thing keeping me from using any open source routing or even Google Maps is that here in Israel there are roads that are illegal to drive on either because they're access to PA territory or they're bus/taxi only. No application other than Waze avoids these, so I'm stuck using Waze. I just checked this, and to get to a building down the street from me, it wants me to YOLO myself through the bus lanes.
- andrepd 1y agoOpenstreetmaps is notorious for having ultra-granular information, down to flags for whether a post in the street is metal or floppy, retractable or fixed. For bus lanes, I just checked and they're all correctly marked in my city. Seems they are missing in yours, sadly.
- phkahler 1y ago>> For bus lanes, I just checked and they're all correctly marked in my city. Seems they are missing in yours, sadly. Fortunately OSM can be edited by users. Updating the lanes in your city is something you can do. I'm not saying it's easy, just that it's possible.
- spacemule 1y agoI tried to get into OSM a few years ago, and the barrier to entry seemed a bit high. Maybe I'll try again. For all I know, the lanes are properly marked, it's just a routing issue. In Israel, the bus lanes are a bit odd. A lane can be a turn-only lane for cars and straight-only for busses. So, it's a bit complicated. Even Google Maps can't handle it.
- trinix912 1y ago> A lane can be a turn-only lane for cars and straight-only for busses. That seems pretty normal, there's lots of this around Europe. Apparently overlooked by navi/maps designers overall.
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- theyknowitsxmas 1y ago[dead]
- eisa01 1y agoPeople asking if there's differences to Organic Maps, yes there are E.g., on iOS CoMaps has fixed several bugs present in OM like: * CarPlay Interface not resetting upon arrival at destination * Search Results still highlighted after route creation * Button overlaying during routing on small iPhone I have improved the consistency of paths and footway rendering
- pastk 1y agoTalking about the app features, here are some of the bigger / easier to notice differences: - added automatic backups for bookmarks and tracks - added 100m-step altitude isolines to all regions that had worse or no isolines - a big rework of the map colors - lighter, warmer, friendlier - add a setting to customize the leftmost button or hide it - removed semi-transparent background in Subway layer And there is a bunch of smaller changes, for details check the release notes: https://codeberg.org/comaps/comaps/releases https://codeberg.org/comaps/comaps/releases
- worldsavior 1y agoWhy all of these features weren't contributed to Organic Maps instead of creating a fork?
- gedankenstuecke 1y agoYou can read the reasons for the fork here: https://www.comaps.app/news/2025-04-16/1/ https://www.comaps.app/news/2025-04-16/1/
- zikduruqe 1y agohttps://news.itsfoss.com/organic-maps-fork-comaps/ https://news.itsfoss.com/organic-maps-fork-comaps/
- eisa01 1y agoMe personally, the CoMaps people seem more open to other contributors
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- phkahler 1y agoDoes it play well with Android Auto? My OSM app doesn't display on the car screen unless I keep the app open and make sure the phone screen doesn't go dark. It's nice when it works, but its harder than it should be to get it going.
- pastk 1y agoIt should work. But make sure that the app is installed from Google Play. Google prohibits use of navigation apps in AA from other sources.
- izacus 1y agoHopefully they will fix my biggest pet peeve with Organic Maps - jerky navigation movement (to the point of it being actively distracting and problematic in a car). It happens because they don't apply any movement filters/momentum to the navigation, which means that the navigation marker jerks from one GPS update to the other and is constantly behind the actual location of the vehicle. Which makes it extremely easy to miss a turn. The authors of Organic keep rejecting implementation of a filter/momentum (just like any other nav app) with "it's less accurate"... which is kind of ridiculous if you think about it.
- Tmpod 1y ago+1 They should take your velocity vector into account, or something along those lines, to minimize rotations, even when not following a route. It just leads to a ton of unnecessary screen redraws and jerky movement. Furthermore, as I've been driving in a region with a lot of tunnels, I wish they implemented a better system for when you pass through one while following a route. It animated the arrow for a bit but then stops and only jumps forward when you get out. I wish it would keep going with a speed based on your entry speed (and maybe the tunnel's speed limit, if available), taking the routed exit if there are any forks inside. This would make the happy path much better and would not really worsen accuracy, since it isn't accurate in any way as is right now. You could tweak the arrow's color/shape to indicate it is showing a predicted route.
- milliams 1y agoI'm looking forward to seeing this succeed. A question: given that common pattern of forks of this codebase over time which seem to have a common theme of confused/transferred/disputed ownership, are there plans for an actual neutral foundation (or joining an existing one) or some governance which will guarantee that this avoids those problems? From the outside it's getting embarrassing constantly telling my friends and family "actually you need to install this new fork instead" for the fourth time. I've seen norming in the wild with maps.me or MapsWithMe installed on their phones in the past, and I can't believe that they're following along the journey and we really can't go though this again.
- gedankenstuecke 1y agoCreating an org or joining a fiscal host are two things the community is currently exploring to avoid exactly those issues, you can find the Governance discussions and decisions on their Codeberg repo here: https://codeberg.org/comaps/Governance/ https://codeberg.org/comaps/Governance/
- milliams 1y agoPerfect. It looks like it's moving in a very good direction.
- fluder 1y agoWhat does this Organic Maps fork bring new to us?
- pastk 1y agoFirst of all its about truly community-driven, open and transparent governace and project's finances. And living by the FOSS and non-profit values. But if your question is more about app features, then see my reply here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44455300 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44455300
- jaakl 1y agoNote that being Estonian OÜ (LLC) brings convenience of both having fully electronic communication towards any state affairs and also super easy to get (no even registration needed) yearly financial reports. Actually more-less the only touchpoint with state is the yearly report, no taxes until you have salaries, apply for VAT, deal with licensed area or really cash out the profits. Also you can be foreign, "e-resident" to use such OÜ. The official company reporting source is https://ariregister.rik.ee/eng/company/16225385/Organic-Maps-O%C3%9C https://ariregister.rik.ee/eng/company/16225385/Organic-Maps... . Yearly PDF reports are in Estonian language, but your favorite AI should help. The numbers are in actual EUR (not housands), so they seem to have 33KEUR profits, IMHO no huge piles of money to worry too much for.
- delijati 1y agohttps://codeberg.org/comaps/comaps/src/branch/main https://codeberg.org/comaps/comaps/src/branch/main "also usable on Linux phones" f... yeah!