Maps.me is gone, and we must bring it back • Hacker News Board

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

#171

Post by ce4 » Wed, Dec 23, 2020, 4:51 PM UTC

red_trumpet wrote: post #19

pw6hv wrote: 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.

I also use Osmand, though when I compared it to Maps.me, loading a map was significantly slower in Osmand

1. Check if GPU rendering is activated.

2. Disable map features like areas, buildings and such

3. If still unhappy, delete the full blown map data and download the road only map data (about ⅓ size of full blown map)

4. eMMC/microSD speed matters a lot, if you put it on an external SD card, make sure to get a high speed IOPS card labeled "A1" (1500) or better "A2" (4000 guaranteed read IOPs).

Reason: The map is rendered locally on demand from the map data(base), there's no tiles in the default map view. You basically get almost all of Openstreetmap's data (POIs, buildings, areas, ways and relations), not every poi type is indexed and searchable though. It even have has a working public transport map with routing based on timetables (if present) and ferry ways, etc. If you put the data on a slow external sd card, you'll notice.

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

#172

Post by ethhics » Wed, Dec 23, 2020, 4:51 PM UTC

This news surprises me, as I was just preparing a route in the (iPhone) app. Seems like it hasn’t been updated for me yet.

I haven’t used maps.me much, but generally it’s been a good experience. Other than being told multiple times to make a right turn to keep going straight on a highway, it’s been nice having directions and search that is entirely client-side and blazing fast.

Using it has made me want to contribute to OSM to improve the quality. To hear that it’s changing owners and becoming more of a product is unfortunate.

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

#173

Post by Angostura » Wed, Dec 23, 2020, 4:56 PM UTC

fab1an wrote: 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…

On Apple Maps, press on the map and you have marked the location. Err, that's it. You can also make it a 'favourite' if you want.

You're correct - no offline mapping, though it's pretty parsimonious with data

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

#174

Post by improbable22 » Wed, Dec 23, 2020, 4:56 PM UTC

Ayesh wrote: post #20

fab1an wrote: 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…

Most of the hiking maps are simply not even on Google maps. Only in OSM

It depends a lot where you go. In places like Nepal OSM is often better than any map you can buy. In the Europe and especially the US, it's not as detailed as the national maps. They usually also have much better contours (drawn from aerial photos not from the space shuttle).

But still much better than Google maps, which seems very much for cars (at least outside of cities).

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

#175

Post by ximeng » Wed, Dec 23, 2020, 5:12 PM UTC

tmoravec wrote: post #24

fab1an wrote: 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…

For hiking, check out https://en.mapy.cz/turisticka . While it focuses on central Europe, it regularly imports OSM data worldwide and I found the coverage pretty good.

The iOS app looks great. Thanks for the tip. It even has 3D visualisations of topography with satellite imagery.

Had tried to find similar apps for hiking recently and ended up with free versions of paid apps that were deliberately crippled, this looks perfect for what I need. Shame it’s not easier to find in App Store.

It even has a feature to find a trail looping a fixed distance from a point - I haven’t seen this on other apps and it’s really fast.

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

#176

Post by ce4 » Wed, Dec 23, 2020, 5:12 PM UTC

ruph123 wrote: post #73

Is there a reason why all the OSM alternatives on iOS (like maps.me, osmAnd, mapout, etc.) require you to download the more zoomed in maps? I think being able to download is a nice feature but I don't often need it and would like to use an OSM-based alternative to Google Maps and zoom into any city without having to download it first. Like: "Where was that place in Lisbon?" - "Lemme check... oh I have to download the…

Osmand's default map is drawn by the offline ondemand renderer, and that requires a download (there's the full blown map data and a road only version with ⅓ the size)

There's also the option to enable tile based online maps from a number of predefined providers, if you know the url scheme you can also define a new satellite or traffic tile source from certain known providers (and set opacity) to show those tiles on top of another base map

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

#177

Post by vinc » Wed, Dec 23, 2020, 5:14 PM UTC

jmnicolas wrote: post #88

pxtail wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 is great and it's what I have on my phone, however it has a very un-intuitive UI and I often have to search for what feels ages to find a particular functionality. It might be because I don't need a map often or maybe I'm just an idiot :)

Same thing for me, I love OsmAnd and I paid to support it, but I'm frequently completely lost in the UI. I have used it for years and still I often need to kill it to be able to leave the menu.

I think the main issue is that the app is not intuitive, so you have to sit down and take the time to memorize how to do stuff with it before you need to do it live on the road. And I've never done that, my bad, I really should take the time.

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

#178

Post by ce4 » Wed, Dec 23, 2020, 5:34 PM UTC

piaste wrote: post #85

maelito wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OSMand is much more complete than maps.me. A usable alternative to gmaps for me.

A critical aspect OSMand is missing for me are business information. OSM maps will include store and venue locations, but Google Maps will show me their opening hours and give me their phone number, website, and (for restaurants) menu and food pictures. Looking up that kind of info is, [i]by far[/i], the most common reason for me to open the maps app in the first place, before I actually decide that I want to go ther…

Strictly speaking that is not Osmand's fault, but an issue of tte underlying OpenStreetMap data project.

Google invests a lot into tagging google map POIs. On standard Android installations Google maps activates the maps timeline recording for you and it's creepily good at guessing to which shops you've been and by what means, etc. You then get frequent notifications that push and nudge you to review and answer questions about places (wheelchair access, confirm opening hours, business type, inventory, add photos, reviews, etc). The whole ordeal is quite gamified with contributor level and stars earned on your profile badge. It's designed to have GMaps' data as much as possible enriched by users.

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

#179

Post by 2Gkashmiri » Wed, Dec 23, 2020, 5:36 PM UTC

Mediterraneo10 wrote: post #145

2Gkashmiri wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use osmand so that one is missing features

Brouter can be installed as a routing engine plugin for OSMAnd, it’s on the F-Droid repository. Also, recent versions of OSMAnd are elevation-aware anyway.

i did not know that. i will check it out

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

#180

Post by bromuro » Wed, Dec 23, 2020, 5:39 PM UTC

RivieraKid wrote: post #66

But we have it back - Mapy.cz. It's basically like Maps.me but better across most dimensions. I'm always confused why nobody know about it.

The maps.me vector maps were better to me because much lighter. I could download a whole country in only 20MB.