Just installed and signed into my OSM account! Been meaning to update more of my area.
I am looking to try moving away from Waze too. Are there any good open projects that have support for reporting cops and the other stuff like Waze? When I was looking last year, I came across Navmii since it does have some level of reporting stuff. However the app itself is very glitchy and I don't think it is really actively being worked on. Or is popular enough to even know if literally anyone around me is reporting things. When I have tried to report a cop being parked waiting for speeders, it doesn't show anything even on my map.
They use OSM data which I think is also not being actively scraped, as I personally added my entire street's addresses and doesn't show on Navmii (but does show up on the main OSM site and on Organic Maps).
the biggest problem I have with switching is that Google Maps is a business directory. open street maps is empty where i live. it works okay for navigation, but not so much for finding a coffee.
As many have already told you, you can contribute to OSM, I have put in it almost all the establishments in my area (Not at Big area but...). Although soon I have to update them
im on board with the idea in general, but im not going to do this. it would be an endless effort to the benefit of almost nobody. places go up and down so fast here that google maps is often out of date too. it's filled with stale information and im flagging missing places constantly. every digital community in this country is a garbage pile.
the ride share apps here do use open street maps though, and im making corrections to building addresses when i find something isn't right. it's great.
There's a pretty barebones editor in Organic Maps, but you can also check out Street Complete and Every door (more advanced and less user friendly, though insanely efficient)
Yeah, it's interesting to look through the edit history over the years. With StreetComplete I recently fixed ~8 stores that were many years out of date, during an hour walk.
It's fun to find a real hole-in-the-wall that even google maps doesn't have.
You seem pretty active with OSM, so I'll propose this here since I don't have time to make it.
OSM is very, very popular with hikers and cyclists, and I'd argue rhey drive a lot of it's use, especially via third-party systems. However, it's one failing is "gravel" roads. While they support many different gravel road types, they admit on their Wiki that use of the proper terms is low.
Given the heavy use of Garmin devices, especially among gravel cyclists, mountain bikers, and bikepackers, where terrain definition is important, it would be outstanding to have an app in the Garmin store for Edge devices that could report the exact terrain type (compacted, dirt, etc) with a button mash as you ride it.
Yea, I've used that, but it's a phone app. Riders need a one-touch solution on Garmin (or other bike computers, but Garmin dominates the market right now).
Same, I have recently installed LineageOS on my phone and was looking for various replacements for Goggle apps. What I really like about OrganicMaps is that it downloads the maps locally, so you can view it even if you aren't connected to the internet.
There’s a small learning curve I wish some bothered to understand first. Does this app help? The part of this I don’t like is vacationers leaving useless names like ‘Mango lady’, ‘many street vendors’ for a block, or ‘local restaurant’ since they can’t read the sign as opposed marking up the cuisine type, maybe adding an English description, & leaving the name blank. Nobody expects uploads to be perfect but Bangkok is littered with this noise that makes it hard to follow or find things.
Can't we script a complete copy of Google maps data (shops, highways etc) to this? Is the API restricted? Can we run distributed jobs for it? I can spin up some compute if someone is interested in trying this
No, this is against Google TOS and OpenStreetMap policy on data sources and the Data Working Group will step in and block any accounts doing this to protect the project as a whole.
Organic maps SPECIFICALLY doesn't want that. It would be grounds for them being sued and having to comb through their database and remove any "questionable" material.
It would be the end of the project, they don't have money for that.
I didn't have to pay for it, installed from F-Droid, and I can download any map I've tried so far. When I'm traveling I like to pre-download the standard map for the whole state if it's one I don't already have installed. It's nice to not have to worry about data / reception.
Overall OsmAnd is a pretty good GPS-map-navigation app, but has several annoyances and bugs. Still better than using Google's app to me. I need to check out Organic maps too
Anything that keeps maps in local storage so you can use GPS while offline is somewhere between very helpful and lifesaving. Sounds like Osmand is in there.
Organic Maps lets you download also. I got it specifically for backpacking because it enabled that. It certainly has been worth the $0. I should probably donate something each trip.
Definetly one of the subscriptions I don't regret as much as others but still a steep cost for my frequency of usage. I need it approx 6 weeks per year and only as backup when traveling/hiking.
A free alternative (simply Osm) is much appreciated.
Organic maps is great and I wish I could use it more. I commute in a city and traffic data is very important to me when it comes to route planning. It can be the difference between an hour commute and a 15min commute. Due to this, I'm pulled back to using google maps as my default.
Is it not possible to anonymize traffic data so that it can be made available in google maps? I'd gladly contribute a bit of data in order to improve this app. I'd even pay a bit of money for a pro version.
There's another free OSM based app that does have some traffic data, it's called Magic Earth. Not open source though, as their business model is to sell adapted versions.
I'm not sure how or why, but Magic Earth has a FAR more complete address list than OSMand or Organic Maps where I live. It must be pulling from another data source as well, OSM doesn't have addresses for several neighborhoods in the city but Magic Earth does.
Would anyone know why that would be?
OSM not having massive chunks of my home city really does leave me with either Google Maps or Magic Earth.
It substantially improves the issue I think you are describing by collating address data from OpenAddresses and making that available in the OSMAnd search.
I'd like to know as well actually as I've found the same. Maybe I'm just using Organic Maps wrong? But if I am, then am I wrong or is Organic Maps as Magic Earth works so much more seamlessly. Magic Earth website clearly states it uses OSM.
The difficulty is asking people to get started with this. People want to get to work/navigate as quickly as possible to where they need to be, they don't want to be figuring it out. Social media can be janky and you'll be patient, but if you're late for something because you're struggling to adjust to an app you're more likely to go back to Google/Apple Maps
Take a definition of ACTIVE contributors, because both projects have a lot of inactive contributors that only registered and didn't do anything but just one update and left, if any.
Google is known for dropping projects that they can't monetize enough. Maps' been around for a while, but it can always just disappear for public use. Or decide that you need a Google account too use it and that's a privacy nightmare. We need alternatives, but in this case, we need free and open source alternatives. We can't put all the eggs in the same basket.
internet explorer, yahoo mail, myspace, icq... things change. unfortunately it's mostly due to a huge company having the resources to promote their product to convince people to migrate but still. people can leave old giants.
Absolutely love organic maps for cycling! It recommendeds sensible routes that are much safer. The only feature I miss (and I know organic maps strives for 100% feature completeness even offline so this would be unlikely to be added) is navigation using public transit in the UK. The national rail app is painfully slow and isn't easy to just search a location and just go, but it does work. Every bus company has their own app too... I haven't found a good replacement yet unfortunately :/
I've done those conversions by hand before, just deleting irrelevant Google junk out of the KML file to import it to OsmAnd~ because I planned my route on the desktop Google Earth app (3D is cool) and exported it to KML. After some edits it usually will import to OsmAnd on the phone
Yes, you can share location, the widgets aren't as fancy as Google integration with everything.
Not feasible without the constant data harvesting in the background, which it doesn't do. It doesn't log your every move as Google does. Privacy vs surveillance, will always be at odds.
Depending on the area. In my country public transportation is way better on OSM than on Gmaps. Oftentimes Gmaps won't even have large structures like train stations or bus terminals. It depends on users and contributors.
It would be cool if there was an opt-in libre database to which we could submit pseudonymous traffic data. It would be hard to prevent sybil attacks though.
I tried Organic Map. As someone who doesn't drive, my only qualm with the app is that it won't tell you what public transport you should take to get from point A to point B.