Organic Maps impressed me with its elegant UI, effective routing, and good ethics.

cross-posted from: https://psychedelia.ink/post/526072

My impression of Organic Maps immediately improved when I started driving. It talks! It knows exit numbers! It can tell you which lanes to use! Sure, it isn’t as polished as Google Maps, but all of the functionality is present. The UI is high-contrast and easy to read, although I wish the text showing exit numbers/street names was a little bigger. When you’re simply on the road and following directions, Organic Maps feels every bit as intuitive as Google Maps.

As my fiancee and I prepared to set off into the boonies, I plugged in the address of our hotel. About 45 seconds later, Organic Maps returned the 300-mile route to our destination. It can take a lot longer to calculate longer routes using your phone’s processor instead of a huge cloud server. It didn’t really bother me though; 45 seconds is nothing compared to the 6-hour trip ahead. If that’s the cost of using a maps app that doesn’t spray your personal data all over the internet, I’ll pay it.

    • ExLisper@linux.communityEnglish
      41·
      1 year ago

      I do. Magic Earth is still better. I think Google Maps actually expects you to drive with the voice on so when you turn it off you need to look at all the other cues. For me just looking at the map in Google Maps is not enough to understand where it wants me to go. I have to do things like counting the lights until the turn on read indications on the signs and compare them with the map. With Magic Earth I can just see where to go.

      • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
        21·
        1 year ago

        Interesting, I might try it, although Google Maps has the advantage of having live traffic info…

        • ExLisper@linux.communityEnglish
          3·
          1 year ago

          Magic Earth has live traffic. What it’s missing are all the POIs. You pretty much have to know the address to go somewhere. Saying ‘get me to the business name’ rarely works. But if you’re using it for longer trips and just want directions to a different town or can bookmark the most common destinations it’s fine.