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.
My problem with all of the OSM-based navigation tools is the lack of realtime data. I am trying to move away from Google in general, but 50% of my Google Maps usage is for traffic and closures along routes I know.
Just move to my country, where traffic is so bad and unpredictable that not a single navigation app can be trusted.
Traffic… That’s a sticking point for some people. Closures, I find OSM is more up to date than google on that front these days.
I don’t need traffic data. I live somewhere without bad traffic, deliberately. Traffic is one of the top criteria for me when choosing where to live.