Well, guess I need to look into more Google alternatives. OpenStreetMaps most likely.
People arent actually thaat tolerant to this cancer. If they arent careful people will switch.
OrganicMaps (or Osmand) is all i need usually. Search is kind of bad sometimes and obviously no live traffic data, but if you dont drive a car, the latter one at least is irrelevant.
I’ve tried Osmand and my only complaint is that you need to tap and access too many menus to set up and/or exit navigation mode. Last time I tried it was last year, not sure if that’s changed
Yeah, I used it a couple years ago, and for walking especially it seemed really cool, since it has all sorts of extra data like slopes and benches or whatever. But there are a whole ton of settings everywhere, which is cool that you can customise everything but also a bit of a mess. Definitely more for power users it seems.
Havent used osmand in a while so i cant say, but with organicmaps its pretty simple. Just select from/to and press start. It also has proper support for TTS now and android auto i believe (dont actually know what that does).
One thing i love is being able to enter lots of intermediate stops for a route which makes it reroute automatically.
While not FOSS, the closest thing we have to a drop-in replacement would be Magic Earth. It uses openstreetmap data, supports fully offline usage, has satellite images (only online though) and best of all, no tracking or telemetry.
I significantly prefer it for car navigation, it seems to always pick ‘more sensible’ routes than Organic Maps. Also the live traffic is very nice to have.
I prefer Organic Maps when I’m on foot, ie. walking through the city or hiking. Imo it feels less cluttered when you just want to look at a map.
Edit: Another big plus for Magic Earth is transit support. It’s not as good as Google Maps, but it’s certainly better than nothing.
Nice. And then soon it’ll be “watch this add to take the fastest route”.
Then “subscribe for an add free experience” without subscription you get the add, as well as navigation that requires you to drive to a detoured location and take a picture of said location before continuing on to your destination (or yet another detour add, if the trip is long enough).
Look at us, peak civilization here.
/s
don’t forget 3 years later when the subscription isn’t profitable enough, so they start injecting ads into the paid subscribers as well.
Or when they complain that not enough people are using it so they relaunch it as “Google Roads”.
Apple Maps is great now. Fuck google maps I never use it anymore.
Ehhhhh I think Apple Maps is hit or miss depending on your area. In urban centers? I think Apple Maps gives superior directions.
In more rural areas? I think Google wins.
I haven’t tested out incident avoidance with Apple Maps as I haven’t used it since it guided me to the wrong address three years ago…
Maybe it’s worth a second try
I will 100% uninstall when I see this.
Their analytics need to see how little time it takes me to uninstall. I’ll fucking pull over and uninstall mid trip. I am a psycho against ads. I’ll call the AG and say it caused me to get in an accident.
Fuck ads. Fuck any company that forces them down your throat.
Fuck. Ads.
Fuck. I’m mad now.
My brother in arms! lol
Was just having a conversation last week when the subject of roadside billboards came up, the other guy says to me that he reads every single one of them when he’s driving. I tell him when I look at billboards the only think I think about is how much fun it would be to cut them down and set them on fire. Dude looked at me like I had a dick growing out of my forehead.
I live in the lovely state of Vermont where billboards are fucking illegal. 😍
I can’t say that I can agree with you more.
A new bright as FUCK billboard was put up on a frequent road I travel. I want it GONE and the people responsible for it to just die.
It’s seriously a hazard at night…
So, when we drive up to Georgia or South Carolina from Florida, there’s a point on I-75 where the Jesus billboards come out. Many of them are the usual “Babies have heartbeats” variety, but there’s also the following:
- “Have you decided yet … Jesus” which we always render in an exasperated voice, aka “OMG have you decided yet? Jesus!”
- “Go ahead, let go. I’ll catch you - Jesus” which we always respond to with “WTF Jesus just reach down and grab me, you’re RIGHT THERE!”
- “Jesus is in control” with mysterious Russian tanks and American soldiers.
- Zombies and Jesus for … reasons.
I’m not even against ads, because their little blurbs about a mcdonalds nearby on the map - eh. fine.
This shit though, that pops up and distracts me while I’m driving? Nah fuck that, I’ll get rid of google maps over it
Brothers from another mother… I fight ads daily … Been pretty lucky I stay away from TV. They keep trying, really all it’s done lately is forced me to go foss for most of my apps.
My Brothers / Sisters from other misters, I have been successfully avoiding ads for around 2/3 years and wow, no regrets. Talk about a war worth fighting, life is better without. This new in-navigation ad felt specifically made for folk like us, who are almost unreachable for marketing. I did some FOSS car navigation today. Bye Gmaps :)
Alright, what’s the next best navigation app to switch to if they actually pull this shit?
Google Maps is good for finding businesses and their opening hours. That’s it. Personally I then copy the address and then use one of several apps, depending on my mode of transportation. For car either Waze or Magic Earth.
You can add hours to OSM. Just don’t get your data from google as that’s a copyright violation. You install Street Complete and then walk around and complete quests.
You can add hours to OSM.
I know. So? Usually the businesses maintain their own opening hours (and if they are on top of things their business holidays) on Google Maps. The current state is that for looking up opening hours GMaps is leagues ahead of anything else and for actual navigation the competition (or in case of Waze the adopted sibling) is better than GMaps.
I’ve been playing with Organic Maps. It’s not… perfect. But it’s a contender I’d say
Ok, I should clarify, unfortunately I am someone who needs a navigation app that is able to know public transit schedules and routes. Offline is generally not gonna work as it’s vital to have up to date info on rescheduling and rerouting.
