this post was submitted on 21 Sep 2023
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cross-posted from: https://psychedelia.ink/post/526072

My impression of Organic Maps immediately improved when I started driving. It talks! It knows exit numbers! It can tell you which lanes to use! Sure, it isn’t as polished as Google Maps, but all of the functionality is present. The UI is high-contrast and easy to read, although I wish the text showing exit numbers/street names was a little bigger. When you’re simply on the road and following directions, Organic Maps feels every bit as intuitive as Google Maps.

As my fiancee and I prepared to set off into the boonies, I plugged in the address of our hotel. About 45 seconds later, Organic Maps returned the 300-mile route to our destination. It can take a lot longer to calculate longer routes using your phone’s processor instead of a huge cloud server. It didn’t really bother me though; 45 seconds is nothing compared to the 6-hour trip ahead. If that’s the cost of using a maps app that doesn’t spray your personal data all over the internet, I’ll pay it.

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[–] [email protected] 78 points 1 year ago (3 children)

And don't forget that organic maps uses osm for the map data and you can make the map better for everyone by using a very simple app called street complete, that let you add shops, street address and a lot more.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I like OrganicMaps' editor more than streetcomplete. I think streetcomplete focuses a lot on things that don't matter.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago

Use what works best for you! I will say I love how I can customize StreetComplete so that the things I think are important can be asked first.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Does OrganicMaps have editing abilities?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Yed, basic ones for adding and editing POIs.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Have you tried Street Complete Expert? You can edit directly poi with this one too, and you can even enable the option in the settings to view the satellite version of the map

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (2 children)

My problem with all of the OSM-based navigation tools is the lack of realtime data. I am trying to move away from Google in general, but 50% of my Google Maps usage is for traffic and closures along routes I know.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Just move to my country, where traffic is so bad and unpredictable that not a single navigation app can be trusted.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago

Apparently someone made a community for the app [email protected]. I haven't used Organic Maps myself so I can't say anything about it.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I traveled around Europe last summer, without data and phone provider, and I can confrim Organic Maps absolutely rocks. Light, responsive, up to date, it's really solid.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Used it as my primary hiking tool recently (i know, I know - I had a compass and a map) and it worked a treat.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I love the concept of organic maps, and do even use it occasionally, but for now I'm mostly sticking to OSMand.

The main feature missing for me is the ability to customise the map styles. I like using map apps for hiking and organic maps default (/only) style is ugly at best and unusable at worst for this.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Interesting... I love the simple and clean type of Organic Maps, but it's cool that there's an app for everyone out there.

The Organic Maps team is working on an outdoor style, for hiking and similar situations. They had it in a beta version some time ago, but they decided to rework it, so it is not ready yet. You can check in a couple of months if you're interested in seeing how it looks like.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)
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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Organic Maps has no traffic data

I'd gladly pay a couple €/month for a live traffic and construction data service from OM.

It wouldn't even need to be unfree as the service's value would almost entirely be its data, not the software which facilitates it.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

The issue is mostly not about paying for the info, but rather about how to obtain said info without collecting location data of all users in an intrusive way like Google does.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Does this re-route based on traffic conditions and travel times as well, or simply show the traffic conditions on the map?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It is not used for routing.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Yeah, really need traffic data with route alternative.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

It's literally the only result if you search for "organic"

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I have only one complain about OSM in general, why can't I browse the bus lines a specific bus stop offers?? I can check if it has a fucking bench but can't inspect the bus lines.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

There might be some website that offers that functionality using OSM data.

One thing that we need to understand is that OSM is data. Loads of it. The ways of displaying and searching for that data are up to each website and app that uses OSM data: first the data has to be added to OSM, then someone has to develop a tool to easily view it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Not sure which application you are using, but you can use the transport map layer of OSM and see all the bus stops. Every stop likely already has the tags for bus stop features.
As for Organic Maps, it's optimized for driving/directions and doesn't have the advanced features that more redines apps have. That said I love it and enjoy using it for directi9ns.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

i first considered this when maps.me went to shreds. for a while, i used both organic maps and osmand for my cycling trips. the cleaner interface of organic maps won me over. my main gripe at that time was the absence of a route import function. the dev team added that recently. now, i can import both kml and gpx formats.
now, if there is a way to save the in-app planned routes, that would be a huge help.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Btw:

Organic Maps is a free Android & iOS offline maps app for travelers, tourists, hikers, and cyclists based on top of crowd-sourced OpenStreetMap data. It is a privacy-focused, open-source fork of Maps.me app (previously known as MapsWithMe), maintained by the same people who created MapsWithMe in 2011.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Wait what happened to maps.me? I still have it installed but barely use it but fondly remember the days hiking with it or exploring new towns.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

From Wikipedia

.. until the application was sold to the payment processor Daegu Limited, part of Parity.com, which changed the application user interface and content,[7][8] which led the free software community to develop an ad- and tracker-free fork called 'Organic Maps' in response.[

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Ah. I tried it recently while overseas, noticed it had been completely enshitified, then came across organic maps. It's better than maps.me ever was, so good riddance.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

last i used it, it became a slow, resource-hogging, ad-riddled, bloated mess.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Organic maps is my daily driver for navigation and has been since 2 years. It is a great app and improving very rapidly. It's also a great app for adding POIs to openstreetmap when outside.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Does anyone know, will it work with Android Auto?

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It’s the best offline map app I’ve found so far.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Same. And I've tried quite a few ones.

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