Seriously it has sort of changed the world. I know I’m just handing all my location data to Google but the way it works and the features it offers are amazing and I cannot imagine a world anymore in which I might get lost if I just take a wrong turn somewhere.
That combined with the free messaging has made “finding” anything location related a non issue.
I can send people a location to meet, I can look up an address someone gave me, I can send my spouse my live location while I’m on my way home to let her know how far I’m out, I can find a hardware store in a town I’ve never been to because I need to tape to fix my bag or whatever, people write helpful comments about where to park or whatever.
Maps will suggest different routes for pedestrians, cyclists, drivers or find you a public transportation route if you wish, including (usually) the exact time your train or bus or whatever leaves. It’s fantastic
Look into OpenStreetMaps site for desktop PCs, and pick one of many android apps for the mobile phones that use OSM (i prefer osmAnd, it has a free premium version on F-droid software store) and you won’t be needing to send all your location data to Google ever again.
I tried OSM on F-Droid a few months back and it was terrible. It could never find any addresses that I input. Magic Earth is much better. And uses the same backend I believe.
Seriously it has sort of changed the world. I know I’m just handing all my location data to Google but the way it works and the features it offers are amazing and I cannot imagine a world anymore in which I might get lost if I just take a wrong turn somewhere. That combined with the free messaging has made “finding” anything location related a non issue. I can send people a location to meet, I can look up an address someone gave me, I can send my spouse my live location while I’m on my way home to let her know how far I’m out, I can find a hardware store in a town I’ve never been to because I need to tape to fix my bag or whatever, people write helpful comments about where to park or whatever. Maps will suggest different routes for pedestrians, cyclists, drivers or find you a public transportation route if you wish, including (usually) the exact time your train or bus or whatever leaves. It’s fantastic
Look into OpenStreetMaps site for desktop PCs, and pick one of many android apps for the mobile phones that use OSM (i prefer osmAnd, it has a free premium version on F-droid software store) and you won’t be needing to send all your location data to Google ever again.
I tried OSM on F-Droid a few months back and it was terrible. It could never find any addresses that I input. Magic Earth is much better. And uses the same backend I believe.