Hi everyone im new to the OSM community but eager to contribute. Im curious how many of you use OSM on android phones and how you interact with it. I’m interested both in terms of contributing but also using it for its map functionality e.g. navigation. Based in my early research so far the most popular apps seem to be:
- OsmAnd
- Vespucci
- Maps.me
- StreetComplete
- Organic maps
- Magic Earth
Im really looking for your opinions on what apps are worth using and for what purpose. Do you just use one app or multiple apps for different purposes. Which app would you recommend to your tech savvy friend and which to your mum? There’s probably a bunch more i haven’t mentioned so please also highlight them and any strengths or weaknesses they have. Thanks 😊
I have all of them installed except maps. me… kind of looking for the best one myself
Editors:
Streetcomplete is for quickly contributing small details - very easy and user friendly.
Vespucci is for advanced editing - advanced. It has its uses on the go but i personally prefer using the web editor for bigger contributions
Maps:
Osmand. Feature packed but can be slow.
Organic - lighter weight. Updates the map monthly (or longer)
Magic earth - not open source, but that gives it the ability to pull traffic data from closed sources therefore apparently very good for driving navigation
Fully degoogled myself over a year ago, tested every OSM-based map software I could find, here’s my short conclusion:
For non-techy users who wanna get rid of Google maps but want an easy no muss no fuss, Magic Earth. IMO, it’s the closest you can get to Google maps without using Google.
Has basic traffic routing, pretty good with addresses and locations, clean UI, overall very solid app.
I also use OSMand, it’s both better and worse than Magic Earth. It’s NOT for beginners IMO, the defaults are pretty horrible. Messy UI, confusing interface, slow and cluttered. But OSMand is a tinkerer’s app, if you have the time and interest, you can make it work very well and look pretty good too.
Organic Maps is the maintained fork of Maps.me. See the wikipedia article for details.
I am back to using google maps here and there. I haven’t been using it for 2 years but relying on gmaps in the short term is better than relying on nothing if the map is not yet covered by osm. At the same time I improve the osm map until it becomes usable.
Osmand is for hikin, biking, skating, quick overview for cars, map exploring, etc… for actual car driving, I use magic earth because it’s a navigation system. Osmand is a map with routing capabilities.
SCEE is better than SC. I ditched SE once SCEE came out. Every door is useful for bulk editing.
For armchair mapping josm, ofc.
I’d recommend that you use the app that’s appropriate for the job and not the skill level.
Osmand is best for hiking. better than any other map, yes better than gmaps, here, bing, etc. Magic earth is better for car navigation than gmaps. Every door is very quick in documenting the number of floors buildings have. Josm is very efficient in documenting the roof color of buildings. SCEE is great for documenting road surfaces.
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Cool! That makes me happy :) I dono to osmand, I love the app. I also created my own style. Love it :)
Magic earth has a more traditional navigation system approach, that’s why I like it more.
here on degoogled android (LineageOS) i have been using OsmAnd~ (F-Droid version) for a couple of years, and i love it. it was a bit overwhelming at first, since it’s deep in its customization, but it means you can make it be as you want. it’s great for navigation (in my region OSM is a bit short on street numbers, tho) although it took some time getting used to they way it display things like changing lanes before an exit. i found it after i went looking for a replacement for Maps.me when it went closed source
i just recently started contributing through StreetComplete and i’m loving it, but eventually would like to move on to bigger edits (like adding buildings and roads) but haven’t explored the best way to do that. i know you can make edits in OsmAnd~ but i suspect the OSM web page on desktop will be better for that
@ruplicant @JackOfNoTrades That’s cool…Thank you for helping the open source world ❤️
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Interesting thought about osmand. I’ve used it for years, but never had that vibe, though I am not too involved with the devs.
Why do you think that?
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Yeah. Cool good on ya for changing your mind!
Magic Earth is good for navigation but not open source sadly. OSMAnd is just too confusing for the average user. The routing on Organic maps is dreadful imo, but the app itself is pretty so I keep it installed.
@ntzm @JackOfNoTrades Yeah… Also we have to be too accurate to search on #OsmAnd ,otherwise it won’t show correct results. I hope the developers will fix it soon😔 … Btw I love both apps 😍😋
I like to keep things “simple”, so while I’ve tried pretty much all of the OSM-based apps for Android, I consistently use the following:
- OSMAnd+ (pretty much for all nagivation, route planning, etc.).
- StreetComplete (this is great for confirming/adding details for a POI based on a fun question and answer format).
- OSM Go! (both web and app. I use this mainly for quickly adding basic POIs like bike parking, water fountains, public toilets, etc.)
- Every Door (specifically for adding addresses and details to buildings).