What are some alternatives to Google Maps?

tron@midwest.social to Asklemmy@lemmy.ml – 157 points –

I'm sick of using google maps, they started putting gigantic ads for stores on the map and I'm tired of them tracking me. So I ask you Lemmy, what should I switch to?!

EDIT: Was not expecting so many replies, thank you Lemmy! I am checking out Open Street Maps currently thanks for the recommendations!

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Any OpenStreetMap (OSM) app/website:

Organic Maps on iOS/Android: https://organicmaps.app/

OsmAnd (small price) on Android/iOS: https://osmand.net/

OpenStreetMap off course: https://www.openstreetmap.org/

OsmAnd web maps: https://osmand.net/map/

Maybe some things like TomTom Go or Sygic Maps (is this still a thing?)

None of them seem up to date on public transport when I tried, which makes it kind of useless

Public transport in Magic Earth mostly works for me. It's not as good as Google Maps, but it's better than nothing.

Magic Earth seems much more complete than OSM from experience, which is curious considering they use OSM data. I wonder where they get the extra info.

Citymapper and the Transit app might work, depending on where you live

OsmAnd~ is free on fdroid

Including all maps and features?

yeah, OsmAnd is open source, so someone else built it to be released on fdroid, and the original developers have said that they don't have a problem with that I think as long as they don't release it on Play/try to sell it

Wow awesome!

i found this out after reading through osmand documentation and seeing a bunch of features marked as premium that I DEFINITELY hadn't paid for, and trying to figure out what happened lol

It does lack a few features though, as they rely on proprietary software/libraries. Android Auto for instace, as well as ANT+ for connecting sensors. At least for those features you need the Google Play version.

Do you know which of these has the most updated real-time traffic data, like for accidents and road closures? I depend heavily on maps not just for navigation but to also get the fastest routes to my destination. Obviously google maps is great with that because of the sheer amount of crowsourced data it collects, but it’s also effective with rerouting quickly for unpredictable events.

Magic Earth is closed source but it claims it respects the users privacy, it uses open street maps and it has decent traffic data for navigation for some countries. It also has the advantage that you can configure it to stick to the original route if you prefer. This is very important for me because sometimes I want to take a scenic route, or just routes I prefer but that are not necessarily the fastest.

Thanks! This looks promising. Unfortunately it doesn’t even have my address yet (new neighborhood). I’ll park it in the meantime but will definitely keep it on my phone and will try it on familiar routes (in case something goes wrong).

Given it uses OpenStreepMap (OSM), you can create an account on osm.org and add the address (and other information) yourself, if you want

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I love OSM in so many ways, but unfortunately its address resolver is kinda garbage compared to Google Maps. For example, the string "10392 SE 23, portland, or, usa" correctly resolves to what I meant, "10392 SE 23rd Ave, Milwaukie, OR, USA" in Google Maps. OSM needs the exact city (Milwaukie is a suburb of Portland) and the "rd" on 23 to resolve.

I don't think they'll ever get address and Street information right. It needs a plugin that links gmaps street info into osm.

OsmAnd is free with enough contributions to OpenStreetMap.

Personally, I was using MagicEarth for public transport when needed but it’s stopped working for some reasons. Once Organic Maps gets support for public transport (currently it only provides train times for me), I’ll fully move there. It’s great for everything else though!

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