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User reports Google Maps proposed a sponsored detour to a trip
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this post was submitted on 30 Dec 2023
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Guys, try some OpenStreetMap-based alternatives and get rid of Google Maps:
https://organicmaps.app/
https://osmand.net/
I tried OsmAnd, but sometimes when I try to set a course I get a message that the destination is not reachable... And honestly, the pathfinding is not great on those. I hate to like Maps' algorithm, but I do think it's way better than the alternatives.
last time I tried to use it on a 700km trip it would not even find the path, it would just calculate seemingly forever.
You need to download the maps in order to make it work. The default maps it comes with kinda suck. It's not intuitive but I was able to go from California to Wyoming that way.
I did have all the maps downloaded. I split the trip into three ~250 km sections and it routed each one separately just fine.
Yeah I also downloaded the U.S map and was pretty good navigating around Utah and Nevada. They had information on the locations and everything. It didn't have any traffic information like Google maps but it works perfectly fine.
Yeah, I've seen this sometimes, which lead me to create a osm account and improve coverage around my zone.
OSM is a collaborative effort done by volunteers, so it might not be perfect in some places.
I'm right there with you. And finding addresses is useless.. I have used magicearth for over a year and it's solid. Not open source but respectful privacy policy
The one big draw of Google maps for me is the real-time traffic info. I don't think that anything else had the ability to gather the same amount of info (except maybe Apple?)
Waze. Google Maps literally gathers a large part of it's traffic real time data from Waze (which they also own).
Maybe, but I suspect that Waze has a small fraction of the gmaps user base, so if it has compatible traffic info, it's because it draws on Google's data.
Google pulls from Waze, but Waze isn't allowed to pull data from Google.
I like osmand for off-grid motorcycle type stuff but I've found it to be somewhat useless for final mile navigation especially ironically in the city. I still use it as it's awesome and allows pre-planned offline routes but I also still use gmaps as well. When I drove trucks for a living I found that the Garmin (truck specific but buy what you need) GPS to be quite amazing and will probably buy one of those for my car someday.
Does organic maps work without downloading maps? I don't really need nav, but sometimes I need to know how to get somewhere. I can't do that with Osmand.
Do they work with Android Auto?
Both great ideas but they're not available to android auto, I'd need an alternative that can load in android auto