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CoMaps – FOSS Offline Maps

comaps.app

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Re: CoMaps – FOSS Offline Maps

#171

Post by Ajedi32 »

pietervdvn wrote: post #158
wraptile wrote: post #83

What FOSS maps need is user generated content. For example, having "swimming spot" on my map is not really that useful - it needs photos, some description, additional information of what it actually is and how to reach it as bare minimum to be actually competitive. OSM argues that it's a "map database" but it stores labels like "opening hours" and "social media links" - why stop there? The UGC vs non-UGC debate has b…

The OSM foundation strictly keeps it with 'map data'. There are however many other, small projects that fill in the gap; for example 'Panoramax' for streetview imagery or lib.reviews for reviews. I've made a webapp that ties those services together ( https://mapcomplete.org ) Keep in mind that Google Maps has a >1 billion yearly budget (citation needed, but other global maps have similar budgets)

Yeah a lot of these features exist, they're just very fragmented, which given that the OSM community is already pretty small makes it almost impossible for them to reach the critical mass necessary to actually be useful.

You can go look up pretty much any tiny, hole-in-the-wall restaurant on Google Maps and there'll be dozens of user-contributed pictures of the interior, the menu, etc, but on OSM you'll be lucky if the opening hours are accurate.

I'm not sure there's a good solution to this, but certainly more OSM front ends exposing the data and contribution tools to end users helps.

Re: CoMaps – FOSS Offline Maps

#172

Post by Abishek_Muthian »

pietervdvn wrote: post #153
Abishek_Muthian wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very interesting. Can the Street Complete be used to improve accessibility of a region, say to mark the availability of a ramp?

If you want to do more advanced accessibility mapping, also have a look at https://mapcomplete.org/onwheels - same concept, but different implementation. Also OpenStreetMap based, so data you add there is shared amongst CoMaps, StreetComplete, ... Disclaimer: I make this

This is great, I'm working on a project called AccessPath for detailed accessibility review of a place. Currently the prototype[1] is using Google Maps but I will be moving on to OpenStreet Maps for obvious reasons.

Thanks to you folks, Street Complete will also come handy to make places more accessible.

[1]https://accesspath.world/

Re: CoMaps – FOSS Offline Maps

#173

Post by account42 »

Velocifyer wrote: post #49
Cider9986 wrote: post #12

I use CoMaps, it works great. You get notified in the app to download the updated maps you selected every 2 weeks or so. Could be wildly different than that, just what I notice. It's timing estimates are often 5-15 minutes off Apple Maps, which I find accurate, on ~two hour drives, but I imagine it depends on the traffic. To improve OpenStreetMap, which CoMaps uses as the data source, I use StreetComplete[1]–it puts…

I have been suspicious that streetcomplete is funded by intelligence agencies who want to increase the amount of OSINT avalible.

That sounds like an actually socially useful use of their budgets.

Re: CoMaps – FOSS Offline Maps

#174

Post by ynniv »

nodifference wrote: post #130
pastk wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> made by... "community"? We don't even know who that is, original developers and people with experience are not involved. FYI I've been the most active non-shareholder contributor of Organic Maps for 3+ years. Though you won't see me (or other ex-OM contributors who've left to start CoMaps) in OM github contributor stats anymore, because OM had banned us (and nowadays they also ban users in their chats and SM accoun…

Well, after you intentionally leaked the map generation code (which was not intended to be published) before creating the fork, it's not surprising that OM banned you. How do your actions align with governance, transparency, community and values?

damn, that's an unintentionally amazing advertisement for comaps. downloading now! X-D

Re: CoMaps – FOSS Offline Maps

#175

Post by pastk »

pastk wrote: post #157
nodifference wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, after you intentionally leaked the map generation code (which was not intended to be published) before creating the fork, it's not surprising that OM banned you. How do your actions align with governance, transparency, community and values?

> you intentionally leaked the map generation code (which was not intended to be published) In short: It was perfectly legal to publish this code (Apache 2.0 repo and DCO signed agreeing its a public contribution) and OM shareholders have always claimed that the map generator code is open and people are free to fork it. However it turned out they were holding back a bunch of commits to prevent people from easily fork…

Also me and other CoMaps contributors had been actually banned several months later after they've started their accusations, so the ban is not directly because of the accusations.

At first we've been having discussion and arguing about the matter and related topics in OM chats. But people saw their very shaky arguments and how they refute their own previous words about openness of the maps generator etc.

So then they started just deleting such discussions and eventually banning CoMaps contributors.

And nowadays they censor all mentions of CoMaps in their chats and SMs and often ban users who dared to mention us.

Re: CoMaps – FOSS Offline Maps

#176

Post by duxup »

_factor wrote: post #163
duxup wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An example would be very interesting and yes explaining what they’re up to would be interesting as well. Otherwise it sounds like a made up conspiracy theory….

Your accusatory ignorance is not mine to relieve. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XZ_Utils_backdoor

That doesn’t seem to fit the scenario described earlier.

You don’t have to explain anything… that’s your call. A claim with nothing to support it doesn’t change either.

Re: CoMaps – FOSS Offline Maps

#177

Post by goobatrooba »

ponkipo wrote: post #75

I've read both Organic Maps thread https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48794446 (as it's my favorite map app I use for years around the world, and I'm an active OSM contributor as well) which quickly became overrun with CoMaps followers trash-talking about OM, now this thread appears. What I find interesting to see, and I think it's not just me who can see this - that basically every mention of CoMaps and why it is…

I have no stake in the game other than that I have donated to both projects, but CoMaps seems to have a more sustainable path forward as true FOSS, no need for more drama. Having read some of the discussions I understand that there's also at least one of the original developers on board, so reference to an abstract community without experience seems to be a bit misleading.

I can imagine it's frustrating to see your own work continued by others, when you were hoping to benefit and continue the work and all this drama helps no one. Still better if both sides would avoid the ad hominem attacks and conspiracy theories about the other side.

Re: CoMaps – FOSS Offline Maps

#178

Post by goobatrooba »

u8080 wrote: post #137
fizwidget wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Affiliate links being included in the app, despite community objections? The lead dev using donations to pay for holidays? Those are a couple that come to mind.

> lead dev using donations to pay for holidays What's wrong with that?

If the donation is framed as a single developer benefitting it should be fine, but at least when I was donating that was framed as donations to the project which suggests something else.

I'm fine with this use, rewarding a developer, but neither was this transparent nor was it fair for all others working on the project (and supposedly getting cost claims refused).

Re: CoMaps – FOSS Offline Maps

#179

Post by motoroco »

wlesieutre wrote: post #167
motoroco wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had the same issue planning roadtrips where the journey is the destination. I’ve paid for apps like InRoute despite poor UX, inability to access my routes from desktop, and zero collaboration support I got increasingly frustrated looking for a replacement that I made https://plotalong.app in my spare time so that my wife and I could plan and save our motorcycle trips together. We still have to add the occasional “v…

Very cool! That solves creating and saving a route with extra navigation waypoints, so the other thing I'd want out of it is a native app with CarPlay where I can get total time/distance remaining, time/distance to next stop, and the option to pick which waypoints count as "stops" (versus just being there to control the route). I see there's a GPX export but I'm sure that won't handle the waypoints how I want it to.…

thanks for trying it out! I actually happen to have a trip planned for next month in Shenandoah and Blue Ridge Pkwy, looks like that loop is a little out of reach for us this trip but I want to go back to hit Tail of the Dragon and others

I will make a native iOS app, but probably only after this summer roadtrip season passes. as far as CarPlay goes, I'll have to find a way to test that first (all my cars/bikes have "dumb" head units). I have the site added to my homescreen on my iPhone and it works for me at least, same thing on desktop I installed the PWA with Chrome and have it in my dock

you're right that other providers don't understand through-waypoints. it's more problematic for groups than individuals, but I haven't wanted to take on live navigation yet because it's so hard to do right and to do real world testing. I could just trust Mapbox to be good enough with their Directions API, but then I'm not adding that much value and so I'm still going with planning/collaborating as my primary focus and encouraging folks to export to google/apple maps or their GPS for now. thanks for all the suggestions!

Re: CoMaps – FOSS Offline Maps

#180

Post by Cider9986 »

account42 wrote: post #173
Velocifyer wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have been suspicious that streetcomplete is funded by intelligence agencies who want to increase the amount of OSINT avalible.

That sounds like an actually socially useful use of their budgets.

Exactly, this theory is absurd because they would never help society, they could just use Google Maps/ other proprietary data.

By improving OSM, it allows people to use privacy respecting maps like CoMaps which work offline. I'm sure intelligence agencies are pretty happy with the ability to ask Google where any google account is at any time.

Billions of people us Google maps, is that not disturbing that google knows where that many people are?

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