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OrganicMaps is Android and iOS offline maps for travel without trackers or ads - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27576882 - June 2021 (116 comments)
Organic Maps
401–410 of 493 posts
Re: Organic Maps
#402Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Do not blindly trust it. Map data can be very out of date in some places, especially on remote-ish hiking trails. Also, for the love of everything that's holy, do the same with Apple/Google Maps. They can be horribly wrong to the point of being actively dangerous.
Can't trust Apple/Google, can't trust OSM, can't trust paper maps... What's the right answer here?
> What's the right answer here?
Essentially, check before hand and if possible, use maps fit for purpose.
(E.g. Switzerland has nice public topo maps which are usually more accurate than Maps/OSM. They're available in SwissTopo app. The dedicated app also tends to show closed routes more accurately.)
And double check with local info boards about current state (many regions have websites or dedicated meterological organizations that will post recommendations and closed routes).
Re: Organic Maps
#403Great app, I like it, but I did notice some problems: My city is comprised of several islands, and there's relatively large bodies of water between them (over 100 metres), but this map shows those large water bodies as narrow (1 or 2 metre) river-like things. I understand this might be the problem of the underlying data source, and not the app itself. (For what it's worth, both Google and Apple maps correctly display…
could you give rough coordinates? we (OM) can fix it :)
Re: Organic Maps
#404Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's an amazingly quick fix! Try "Feike de Boerlaan" to "Vondelpark". I would expect the trip to take the Czaar Peterstraat and then the Sarphatistraat, but instead it takes the Panamalaan, Zeeburgerdijk, Mauritskade, and only switches to the Sarphatistraat at the Weesperplein, which I think is also the point where the Sarphatistraat changes from a bike street to a regular street with a bike lane. Although it later…
Really interesting test case - thanks! cycle.travel's scoring for the two routes differs by 0.4% so it's very close. In OSM data terms, the challenge is that there's no particular special tagging for the Sarphatistraat - it just gets classed as a "cycleway", same as the route along Mauritskade. Plus there's a couple of very slight advantages for the Panamalaan (which is tagged as part of a designated longer-distance…
These would also be relevant in NYC - sounds like 34th Avenue meets this criteria
Re: Organic Maps
#405It’s a great open-source with great team. If you want to improve/create some feature and have relevant experience - you can join.
Re: Organic Maps
#406I really want to like it, but I can only figure out how to navigate to the street level. It doesn’t seem to route to a specific address.
this is usually due to a lack of data in OpenStreetMap, if you go to https://osm.org and check one of the addresses, is it there?
the good thing about OpenStreetMap is that if something is missing, you can add it in 1 minute :)
Re: Organic Maps
#407Earlier quoted context omitted.
For offline use I've been quite happy with Maps.me (also OSM-based) but it sounds like Organic Maps is worth a try.
OK, Organic Maps looks great. But how the heck do I transfer to it all my bookmarks from Maps.me ?
Re: Organic Maps
#408I cannot really express how much praise I have for Organic Maps. It has got me out of the mire a couple of times due to the complete offline capability and paper maps being completely wrong. The OSM base layer is better than a lot of native maps out there. Not only that, you can search for a toilet almost anywhere, including in the middle of nowhere in central Asia, and it found one!
As a cyclist, I use Organic Maps to add drinking water sources, shelters, repair stations, fix biking routes and lanes using just a mobile app to update OSM when I am out and about.
How do you fix the routes? I just checked out the suggested route from my work to home and it doesn't stick to the bike greenways or streets with bikelanes. It actually suggested I take a very dangerous road with no bike traffic at all. How can I help improve that?
Re: Organic Maps
#409I genuinely want to know what lead Google to not support Maps offline properly. It’s truly staggering how, even when I do everything I can to say: save this journey, don’t delete the map around it, don’t delete the journey, just passively show me where I am next to it, it will gleefully delete everything. I once met their lead designer (who had just changed to work at another FAANG) and… boy was that not a conversati…
I would have to agree with the designer's I find it easy to download a map. I've done it in every single country I went to. But I have seen family members struggling because they didn't want to take the time to know how to do it (it could be a bad design but also laziness of users...)
Once you download it does anything actually work beyond viewing? Can you search? Can you ask for directions? I do download maps, and pay for roaming data, but I still would never completely rely on it in a new place because I'm bound to be out of network coverage at some point.
Re: Organic Maps
#410Earlier quoted context omitted.
The widespread assumption that Google collects all data all the time and uses it for everything is ridiculous. There’s a labyrinth of explicit user agreements, all of which are strictly enforced, and then there are further layers of voluntary restrictions on top of that. Yes, Google might collect location data even when you’re not using Maps (there are a lot of passionate, dedicated Timeline users), but you have to h…
I believe they also collect location data when you're not using Google Maps for the purpose of updating their database of wifi locations (that they then use for location tracking). There is an agreement for this too, but the Android phones I've had regularly spam you until you agree to it.
You mean: until you accidentally click to agree because it popped up just when you wanted to click something below it. And then of course the only way to disable it again is hidden somewhere several levels deep, and comes with warnings that it will break your phone.