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CoMaps integration with the wider FLOSS ecosystem

comaps.app

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Re: CoMaps integration with the wider FLOSS ecosystem

#31

Post by ihatehn »

daemonologist wrote: post #2

Neat, I was not aware of this mechanism. Is there any way to get map (tile) data from CoMaps into another app?

The issue is that we change our map file "format" with nearly every release, and handling that without crashing is already a job. For example if we add, say, bomb shelters to the map, an older app using that newer data will have access to it but no idea how to render it, which can cause problems (crashing, errors, blanks, etc.) So we have very specific versioning on a per-map-release / app-release basis, and that's just our project. We've already diverged from Organic Maps and even moreso from the (corporate, closed) Maps.me and living on a totally different data format planet from OsmAnd and Magic Earth. So it's a nice idea but extremely hard in practice.

Re: CoMaps integration with the wider FLOSS ecosystem

#32

Post by fizwidget »

drnick1 wrote: post #9

Does this work better than OsmAnd in any way? The latter has been around for a long time and just works. Perhaps the best feature is that maps can be downloaded and used completely offline. It's the natural map app on a degoogled Android system like Graphene. The main downside relative to commercial apps like Google Maps is that you often need to input a full address instead of entering a business name or something l…

Unless you’re already familiar with it, OsmAnd’s interface is a complex and confusing mess. It does not “just work”.

CoMaps (and Organic Maps) aim to be much easier to use.

Re: CoMaps integration with the wider FLOSS ecosystem

#34

Post by throwaway81523 »

diggernet wrote: post #5

Two things I would love to see in the FLOSS mapping ecosystem: 1. A POI/favorites app that maintains a local database with an API for other apps to access it. Apps could then store markers there instead of in their own private db, so that points added on one map app can be instantly available in other apps. 2. A shared traffic data service. Any OSM map app could contribute to the same data, helping reduce Google's ad…

I would also like to see manageable amounts of update traffic. In the old days I had De Lorme street maps of the whole US. It was sold on a CD-ROM so the whole dataset was at most 700MB. It didn't have updates. I also have paper maps (Thomas Guide) of my local region in my car, from the 1990s, and they're still perfectly good in most places. Roads don't move around THAT often. But I have Organic Maps (predecessor of Comaps, maybe I should switch) for just some parts of California and that by itself is more than 1GB of updates EVERY MONTH.

Really seriously, if I go to someplace out of my area I might download that place's map of 500MB or whatever, but then I probably want to just leave it on my phone in case I go there again, no updates needed. I'd like an install for the entire US to be no bigger than say 100GB (my phone "only" has 256GB of storage), and maybe I want monthly updates for my local region of 200MB/month, then perhaps annual updates for everything else unless marked as being of special interest. Plus manual update on demand for wherever if I think I might travel there.

Re: CoMaps integration with the wider FLOSS ecosystem

#35

Post by yonatan8070 »

nobody42 wrote: post #3

Yess! Please make an effort to improve underlying OpenStreetMap dataset: https://streetcomplete.app - basic task-based, on-the-ground, app for Android https://every-door.app - intermediate on-the-ground app for smartphones https://rapideditor.org - AI-assisted mapping in browser https://www.hotosm.org - task-based mapping in browser https://josm.openstreetmap.de - advanced editor for desktop

You can also improve the map through CoMaps itself! It allows you to add and edit businesses and points of interest, as well as addresses and some other info.

So whenever you're at some business, you can take a minute to quickly add it to the map, or just update details like opening times, etc.

Re: CoMaps integration with the wider FLOSS ecosystem

#36

Post by yonatan8070 »

snickerer wrote: post #16
diggernet wrote: post #5

Two things I would love to see in the FLOSS mapping ecosystem: 1. A POI/favorites app that maintains a local database with an API for other apps to access it. Apps could then store markers there instead of in their own private db, so that points added on one map app can be instantly available in other apps. 2. A shared traffic data service. Any OSM map app could contribute to the same data, helping reduce Google's ad…

A huge usabilitiy step would be the operating systems (and apps) just supporting geo links. Geo links are from a RFC and are plain simple: geo:52.512974,13.420131 Clicking this link should open your chosen local map app at this position. But it does not, actively sabotaged by big map app players who want only links to their app.

There's an app for that!

I use GeoShare, and configured Android to open links to Google Maps, Waze, etc. in GeoShare, and it translates them into geo: links that I can open in CoMaps

Re: CoMaps integration with the wider FLOSS ecosystem

#37

Post by everyday7732 »

throwaway81523 wrote: post #33

Could the comaps vs organic maps situation be explained please? tx

Comaps is a fork of Organic maps, because community members didn't like the direction organic maps was moving in. Organic maps was becoming more profit-focused and the governance structure was not democratic.

https://itsfoss.com/news/organic-maps-fork-comaps/

Seems like the fork was largely successful.

Re: CoMaps integration with the wider FLOSS ecosystem

#38

Post by holgerschurig »

em-bee wrote: post #29
diggernet wrote: post #5

Two things I would love to see in the FLOSS mapping ecosystem: 1. A POI/favorites app that maintains a local database with an API for other apps to access it. Apps could then store markers there instead of in their own private db, so that points added on one map app can be instantly available in other apps. 2. A shared traffic data service. Any OSM map app could contribute to the same data, helping reduce Google's ad…

for 2: https://opentrafficmap.org/ it works by collecting C-ITS (Cooperative Intelligent Transport System) data, which many vehicles now send out. https://wiki.opentrafficmap.org/en:c-its:start https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligent_transportation_sys...

So it is in principle similar to the many maps that show data from ADS-B (beacons the planes send). Or to aprs.fi that display beacons ham radio enthusiasts send.

Unfortunately, the vehicles sending C-ITS send them not from very high (like planes) or with considerable transmit power (like ham radio operations). And also in challenging areas. So an C-ITS receiver (e.g. based on a ESP32-C5) has a rather short receiving range.

So for a truly open traffic map we'd need millions of receivers!

Re: CoMaps integration with the wider FLOSS ecosystem

#39

Post by holgerschurig »

diggernet wrote: post #5

Two things I would love to see in the FLOSS mapping ecosystem: 1. A POI/favorites app that maintains a local database with an API for other apps to access it. Apps could then store markers there instead of in their own private db, so that points added on one map app can be instantly available in other apps. 2. A shared traffic data service. Any OSM map app could contribute to the same data, helping reduce Google's ad…

Related your point 1:

I even want local notes. Once I walked around with SCEE or Streetcomplete ... and I added a note. And then the note was public on OpenStreetMap. I meant it as a note to me, so that I later could fix the thing at my desktop computer with JOSM --- which is, for some things, way better than doing it on-the-walk with a smartphone, no mouse, no real keyboard.

Also workaround for 1: In OsmAND you can define your POIs, they are then stored in on the devices. And then you can use things like SyncThing to share them.

Re: CoMaps integration with the wider FLOSS ecosystem

#40

Post by holgerschurig »

snickerer wrote: post #16
diggernet wrote: post #5

Two things I would love to see in the FLOSS mapping ecosystem: 1. A POI/favorites app that maintains a local database with an API for other apps to access it. Apps could then store markers there instead of in their own private db, so that points added on one map app can be instantly available in other apps. 2. A shared traffic data service. Any OSM map app could contribute to the same data, helping reduce Google's ad…

A huge usabilitiy step would be the operating systems (and apps) just supporting geo links. Geo links are from a RFC and are plain simple: geo:52.512974,13.420131 Clicking this link should open your chosen local map app at this position. But it does not, actively sabotaged by big map app players who want only links to their app.

On Android an application can register a custom URL scheme. And the OS has a way for you to select which app should work with a clicked custom URL if several of them registered to e.g. "geo:"
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