Is there any closed source android app that you wish had a good open source alternative?

federino@programming.dev to Open Source@lemmy.ml – 207 points –

I'm currently looking to develop an open source app that can help somebody. I'm currently out of ideas, so I'd like to heard if from you guys.

Sorry if it seems to lazy to ask for ideas like that, I just thought that I could do it since the result will be a free app.

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The Transit app, used for bus/train route info and buying tickets. I imagine the ticket buying part would be difficult to OS, but I just want the live transit routing info. A few apps exist for other cities, but not mine. Worst part is Transit relies on Google Maps.

I believe google maps pulls its data from municipalities setting up and streaming realtime data using this: https://developers.google.com/transit/gtfs-realtime

For my city, I was able to pull this GTFS data into my home automation system to show next arrival times for a couple of convenient stops near my home.

Yea, I've looked into how it works to see if I could add it to an existing app, but ran into a wall I can't recall right now.

The local stops would be good, but what I really need is the ability to figure out new routes, like visiting a friend.

Oh yeah, then you definitely need something else to take the transit schedule and realtime updates to plan routes for you.