Some time ago I started replacing all services and apps that I use with FOSS altnernatives. Most of them were easy to replace but some corpo/big-tech apps had ecosystems too advanced to be conveniently replaced. For example, substituting Google Maps on Android (or I guess Apple Maps on iOS) was a bit of a struggle as the most popular FOSS alternative app was OsmAnd. First of all mad respect and huge kudos to OsmAnd team of contributors but for me the UX was overwhelming and too customizable which is probably a huge bonus to power users but IMO that makes it very unlikely to become a large scale alternative to Google maps. Probably other people realized that too and some 6-7 months ago CoMaps was released, a FOSS app that is also based on OpenStreetMap layer but this time with a simplistic and smooth UX/GUI.

In case somebody is not familiar with OpenStreetMap (OSM) - basically it is a non-profit org, but its heavily maintained by community members and anybody around the world is allowed to contribute and enrich map content. Even if org can theoretically get corrupt I think anybody can make a fork and continue with community contribution. Creating an account is easy, you could start contributing in like 3 minutes. A huge number of services and apps are basing their map layers on OpenStreetMap, such as CoMaps above.

The quality of OpenStreetMap/CoMaps/OsmAnd is as good as the contributions to it are - so the more people use it - the better and more content it will contain. I would like to invite everybody to give it a chance and use https://www.openstreetmap.org/ on desktop and CoMaps on mobile devices. You should have enough motivation to abandon Google or Apple products, but final piece of motivation is that eventually Google Maps will start censoring content (like Reddit or Instagram) or just share your location history to ICE or perform some other serious violation like that (like Microsoft did recently).

CoMaps has a really nice and simple interface where you can add missing places (business, community services, recreation areas etc) while OpenStreetMap on web browser allows to update anything you imagine (e.g. see a missing street? Add it. A new building was developed - just add it!). If everybody enriched only their local neighborhood with features on the map we could really build something beautiful. Existing layer probably already contains 90% of the stuff you’d ever search for as contributors really did a outstanding job throughout all these years. But that additional 10% makes a real difference for it turning into a much bigger scale tool, and this feels like the right time to kick that off.

It is important not to get demotivated that not many people maintain and contribute as your neighborhood might remain a lonely detailed places for years. OSM existed for a long time now and is very likely to keep existing for decades to come, everything that you update or create remains a legacy that stays forever saved in the map (unless somebody further updates it). Perhaps, in 20 years time people will be grateful. And to tidy up and make max out of your neighborhood you really need one weekend or so.

For example, in my local area I’ve started adding location marks of recycling bins, dumpsters, parking lots, playgrounds, pathways, building tunnels and monuments, but also I’ve added missing shops and updated working hours and websites for shops that existed.

Also #1, be responsible when making changes, don’t overwrite other people’s work unless it is an improvement. Double check everything that you add, and also if you don’t have any experience with map editors or GIS software take a watch of some OSM editing tutorial.

Also #2, I most likely omitted some other useful FOSS tools, and it doesn’t matter which one you decide to use as long as it is based on OpenStreetMap or any other community driven layer.

Also #3, tell all your friends and family to do the same.

Yeah, this might not be the most important thing to cure the world at this moment but developing community-driven mindset where everybody takes a small or big part in it is the way to go. Cheers!

EDIT: Amazing input in the comments, I’ll try to summarize additional suggestions provided by other people. Thank you for pointing out URL errors in my post too.

Very useful suggestion by illusionist:

We need more wikipedia images and content, there is still a lot to improve on maps just by contributing to wikipedia. Osmand added custom buttons and now you can enable wikipedia connections with one click which is great

Related lemmy communities:

List of alternative and open-source maps:

List of tools for contribution & content management:

  • NewNewAugustEast@lemmy.zip
    9·
    6 days ago

    Street complete is easy to use, really. It’s a great way to contribute and spend a little time when you are waiting in line or for a friend. It asks: is this pavement? What are the open hours of this building? Just simple easy questions in an easy to use application made for a mobile device.

  • merdaverse@lemmy.zip
    162·
    7 days ago

    I zoomed in to my local area and typed pizza in the search box. A place with Pizza in the name was at the center of my screen. The search took me to a city in another continent called Pizza.

    Contributions from users are wasted if the final UX is so poorly designed.

    • BenjiRenji@feddit.org
      9·
      6 days ago

      Honestly the search quality is the largest adoption hurdle, not the content quality. There are other issues too, but that one is the most universal.

      I say this as a long time user of OsmAnd. Maybe other apps do a better job.

    • draco_aeneus@mander.xyz
      61·
      7 days ago

      The quality of the search depends on which app you use and how it prioritizes search results, right? I know this is a bit of a tired argument, bit since CoMaps is open-source, you could submit a patch, or at least a bug report.

      I’ve encountered the same behaviour on Google Maps on occasion, too.

  • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
    5·
    6 days ago

    Is there an alternative to Google maps that has traffic updates? I want to avoid Google where possible, but last week Google maps warned me about an accident on the highway and saved me being stuck in it for hours.

    • CAVOK@lemmy.world
      4·
      6 days ago

      There’s magic earth. I used it until they locked Android auto behind a subscription. A shame since it was quite good and I was happy to provide data.

      Not open source though.

      • d-RLY?@lemmy.ml
        2·
        5 days ago

        I wanted to like ME because the only thing keeping me on Waze is the user reports for traffic/cops. But they really need a better UI for it. I click report and there isn’t a clear display that it went through. And when I did see that someone had reported a car on the side of the road or a crash (I can’t remember which), it doesn’t show a marker in the actual map. Just had a small mention alert at the top and wasn’t clear where it was. Otherwise it is smooth in animation and works for navigation.

        • CAVOK@lemmy.world
          2·
          4 days ago

          I think the UI has improved with the latest release, but then you need to pay to use it on your car screen.

  • VoxAliorum@lemmy.ml
    3·
    6 days ago

    If I remember correctly, years ago we corrected and added locations in our home town as part of a school project. Having alternative map services is really important. Thank you for your work!

  • d-RLY?@lemmy.ml
    1·
    5 days ago

    I have added all the houses on my street to OSM and used StreetComplete for things. The only very frustrating thing I hate is that my house is technically in a tiny town’s zone as far as utilities, but my street address is under a larger small town. I have made sure that my house and the others on my street have the mailing address town. But when I search it on Co-Maps it still shows the tiny town name. Which if I wasn’t aware of this happening, I would think the address I searched isn’t the same place. Does anyone know if there is a way to force OSM to use the correct address?

    • frondo@lemmy.mlOP
      2·
      6 days ago

      Must have been the brainrot slopping directly from my subconsciousness 😅

  • pietervdvn@lemmy.ml
    3·
    7 days ago

    Shameless plug for https://mapcomplete.org/ which makes it easy to see and contribute to OpenStreetMap. It has a bunch of maps per topic, making it easy to see what is interesting to you. It also guides (new) contributors, making it very hard to make mistakes.

    • mapu@slrpnk.net
      2·
      7 days ago

      I don’t think you need to turn on location for any of the tools mentioned in this thread. It’s useful, but not necessary. If battery life is an issue you could try out MapSwipe. Everyone’s got to find their favourite way of contributing :)

  • luftruessel@feddit.orgEnglish
    11·
    7 days ago

    Thx for making this post and pointing me towards CoMaps! I installed OsmAnd during my own little move away from big Corps last year, but ended up with the same issues. Just installed CoMaps and within a minute I already like it more!

  • Saltarello@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    7 days ago

    Ive used OsmAnd+ for years & I still find it confusing to find specific settings! Thankfully OsmAnd settings can be backed up & exported/imported.

    That said, several times in new cities in both in my home country & abroad late in the day, it’s found us places to eat, toilets, late night supermarkets etc etc. I was grateful to the mappers & I vowed to do the same in my home city suburb to help any fellow visitors who find themselves here. I kept my word & mapped it extensively though I’ll not reveal where.

    Several months ago we visited a European capital for a city break, the public transit navigation in OsmAnd was fantastic. The offline wiki articles are amazing when visiting new places.

    Top tip: utilise the “Quick Action” shortcut button. Add fuel, parking, parking location, wiki & “show nearest POI”. You can toggle them on/off in an instant when needed

      • lattrommi@lemmy.mlEnglish
        7·
        7 days ago

        I agree!

        I’ve not been able to map much with the weather lately, but last April I was pretty proud to see this ranking on my 7 day activity:

        edit: the picture did not turn out how i expected. it’s hard to see, but I managed to be #2 in the US. It’s not a competition, I know, but I have not achieved much in life so this felt pretty cool.

        • youmaynotknow@lemmy.zip
          3·
          6 days ago

          I feel you. Since I found street complete, I got to number 2 in Dominican Republic and am now at #5. It does feel kind of good. It may not be a competition, but there’s nothing wrong about feeling proud of contributing more.

    • PierceTheBubble@lemmy.ml
      7·
      7 days ago

      If that’s the only way you’re going to contribute to OSM, by all means, go for it. But as a desktop OSM editor, I really dislike some of the incentives pushed by mobile applications. Primarily not adding objects as polygons (as it would be difficult to draw on such devices), but adding them as POIs (parking, amenities, etc.) and paths (waterways for instance: where paths are often used for just naming, or as water"ways", like for marine traffic). This often leads me to correct these changes, as they really stand out compared to the rest of the map. So generally, I view these tools as complementary, rather than final changes; unless it’s changes to POIs or something, which is where these applications shine, in my opinion.

      • pietervdvn@lemmy.ml
        10·
        7 days ago

        As developer of https://mapcomplete.org/ - I cannot allow contributors to edit geometries. If I did, I’d have to show all geometries in the vinicinity, which would make it way more confusing for a non-technical user.

        Even then, geometry cannot always be exactly determined (e.g. shops in a mall). And some communities even agree to never use geometries for some types of POI!

        • youmaynotknow@lemmy.zip
          1·
          6 days ago

          Never heard of this before. Looks pretty cool. Allowed for a more focused scenario to contribute. I’ll take it for a spin.

        • PierceTheBubble@lemmy.ml
          1·
          7 days ago

          Editing geometries is hard enough as it is on the desktop (especially with glued points), so I can’t imagine making such changes on the mobile. I think it’s best to not allow editing geometries, and to leave such changes to devices better suited for the task.

          • pietervdvn@lemmy.ml
            1·
            6 days ago

            It really depends on your scenario. In some African countries, access to both laptops and internet is rare; but phones are ubiquitous. Vespucci really shines there, even if it less user friendly then say iD (which is not useable in such a scenario)

            • PierceTheBubble@lemmy.ml
              1·
              6 days ago

              There’s quite some changes by First World contributors in Africa, primarily from mapping events. Perhaps they could also play a role in integrating POI and line elements (which are traditionally areas); or maybe allow a more POI- and line-based standard in Africa, not requiring areas for such objects. Or an intuitive UI, supporting editing of geometries, could be added; despite gluing and complicated relationships, etc. I would love to be proven wrong in my skepticism.

      • youmaynotknow@lemmy.zip
        2·
        6 days ago

        I think there’s something to your point of view, however, these apps do get more people contributing precisely because they remove some of the friction to add and correct information.

        In my case, I just add or correct things on streetcomplete, and then add or correct polygons on my computer at osm when I can.

        • PierceTheBubble@lemmy.ml
          2·
          6 days ago

          I still prefer mobile users adding features, even if they are of an unusual object type; effectively being another type of fixme to desktop users. But instead of another desktop user integrating these elements, I rather have mobile users on the desktop as well; as to integrate their mobile changes when at home. If you’re sightseeing, these applications are very helpful, for creating/editing POIs and effectively sketching out non-POI features; but the latter does require some work to integrate them.

          Quoting another comment of mine. Your use of the tool is something I’m advocating for, really; I recognize it’s usefulness, but am not treating it as a substitute for desktop editors.

        • PierceTheBubble@lemmy.ml
          3·
          7 days ago

          Oh, you can add new things, that’s perfectly fine. I still prefer mobile users adding features, even if they are of an unusual object type; effectively being another type of fixme to desktop users. But instead of another desktop user integrating these elements, I rather have mobile users on the desktop as well; as to integrate their mobile changes when at home. If you’re sightseeing, these applications are very helpful, for creating/editing POIs and effectively sketching out non-POI features; but the latter does require some work to integrate them.

        • infeeeee@lemmy.zip
          3·
          7 days ago

          Streetcomplete is deliberately a tool for quick and easy editing. You can add notes there, and desktop users can fix them for you in an editor with more features. You can add images to notes to describe the problem. You can subscribe to new notes in an area with an rss reader, so I check new notes every few days in my city, solve them if they contain enough information.

          If you want more powerful editing options on mobile you can use Vespucci.