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Maps.me is gone, and we must bring it back

telegra.ph

41–50 of 248 posts

Re: Maps.me is gone, and we must bring it back

#41
post #12

There is already an open source fork at F-Droid: https://f-droid.org/de/packages/com.github.axet.maps/ Note: This is not new. F-Droid maintains this open source version since serveral years.

This fork is in a poor state, barely working, needs some love

The fork is in a good state codebase-wise but they've had ongoing issues hosting map tiles (hosting a tileserver is an arduous task for a free/voluntary effort).

The fork is/was very popular so I can envisage this new effort having similar issues if it starts to get traffic.

Re: Maps.me is gone, and we must bring it back

#42
post #5

Too bad, maps.me was by far the best maps application for non city use, and ideal for hiking. Commendable initiative to bring it back in its original version! A few examples of why it was so great: Simple, non social bookmarks. As in: place a bookmark so you don't get lost while hiking, or when you find a nice spot you want to come back to later. Yep, a utility feature that doesn't somehow map to some stoopid busines…

Check out pocket earth, the UI is a bit clumsy but it’s clearly a labour of love by the author and has served me well in such scenarios..

Re: Maps.me is gone, and we must bring it back

#43
post #9

Mine doesn't seem to have updated yet - no "wallet" that I can see, icons not the new colours, and I can turn 3D buildings on. I just disabled auto-updates for it. I use Maps.me all the time. It has detailed offline maps, with bike paths mapped (where I am, at least).

If the source data (world/map data) is untouched (silly example - the trashcan in the corner), then it's the front-end that has changed, aka the app version filters things differently in this new version and gives preference to "setA" data (e.g. banks) vs "setB,C,D" data (e.g. trashcans, burger places, trashcans, benches).

Then "all" we have to do is fork the front end and keep it steady (with the assumption that the API is open and it will allow 'foreign' apps accessing their data - for free), or stay on the same non-updating app forever. As a principle I don't update apps, unless I absolutely need to (app nags to update 'or else').

I'm not a dev, but without having to rebuild the universe, I don't see any other solution that does not take massive effort.

Also, Ondřej Sojka speaks on the interface. How about the many GB/TB required? Is the new company willing to freely hand out an API that will provide thousands of hits, for free? Are they that generous to pay for the storage, network for someone else's charity?

ADDITION: just because I know this area (of the map used) pretty well, if you are ever there, try the "Honest Burger". I hope they survived the COVID shutdown.. they make what I call honest burger (I use this term for everything of a fair price/value)(way before I discovered that place). I especially liked the fries with rosemary. You don't get that often in a burger palce.

Re: Maps.me is gone, and we must bring it back

#45
post #16

I do not know if it's available on iOS (I suspect no) but on Android I am a really happy user of Osmand. It uses Openstreetmap as maps provider and I always use it when hiking. It gives you the altitude profile of your route which is very useful.

It is on iOS, though it usually lags the Android version.

I did observe it lagging on Android in the past but some point in the last year (I can't remember exactly when) they improved the performance a lot. Still not perfect but nowhere near as laggy as it was in my experience.

Edit: I realised after posting this that you were actually referring to releases not performance.

Re: Maps.me is gone, and we must bring it back

#46
post #28
post #5

Too bad, maps.me was by far the best maps application for non city use, and ideal for hiking. Commendable initiative to bring it back in its original version! A few examples of why it was so great: Simple, non social bookmarks. As in: place a bookmark so you don't get lost while hiking, or when you find a nice spot you want to come back to later. Yep, a utility feature that doesn't somehow map to some stoopid busines…

OsmAnd fits description perfectly, you can place bookmarks, no account required, maps from OSM, offline maps which can be used even without internet connection.

Yeah. I have used maps.me in the past, but osmand is much better. It's one of the few apps I subscribe to (I get more frequent map updates).

Re: Maps.me is gone, and we must bring it back

#47
The complete lack of any mention in the article of the long-running F-Droid fork effort is a bit disturbing if I'm honest.

If the author had already reached out to @axet to offer to help / become a maintainer I'd imagine it would've been mentioned up top.

I'm all for people creating multiple divergent open-source forks of things (diversity is great) but this doesn't seem to be divergent at all. The stated intent is to repeat @axet's work exactly...

Re: Maps.me is gone, and we must bring it back

#50
post #28
post #5

Too bad, maps.me was by far the best maps application for non city use, and ideal for hiking. Commendable initiative to bring it back in its original version! A few examples of why it was so great: Simple, non social bookmarks. As in: place a bookmark so you don't get lost while hiking, or when you find a nice spot you want to come back to later. Yep, a utility feature that doesn't somehow map to some stoopid busines…

OsmAnd fits description perfectly, you can place bookmarks, no account required, maps from OSM, offline maps which can be used even without internet connection.

> OsmAnd fits description perfectly, you can place bookmarks, no account required, maps from OSM, offline maps which can be used even without internet connection.

I love OsmAnd and have paid for the premium version. It's great for hiking or in cities when you can't guarantee an internet connection.

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