Asklemmy

44152 readers

1391 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

Open-ended question
Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

Lemmyverse: community search
sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
[email protected]: a community for finding communities

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_[email protected]~

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

278

Is Google Maps getting worse? (lemmy.world)

submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

152 comments fedilink hide all child comments

My dad uses Google Maps, and he mentioned that it seems to be getting worse. Like, giving him directions that are obviously worse than alternatives. Has anyone else here experienced this?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (3 children)

Yes. I know this is like.. Cliche but I do want to say that I've heard of, and downloaded a new map app called Organic Maps(Play Store). BUT I haven't used it for navigation yet.

About two days after I found it, play store deleted it but I can link it, so it must be back up. If you just open it, it looks beautiful and immediately you notice that stores are not paying money to be prioritized. You can see ALL the businesses equally and I love it.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I love Organic Maps. I used it quite a lot for navigation across Europe and here's my list of findings in order from good to bad

The maps are visually much clearer than Google Maps
Businesses are all visible like you said, and so are street names, etc. I don't know what Google did, but often zooming on something won't get you the labels. With Organic Maps it just works. On the other hand, businesses are often missing or outdated. Google's database is way more current and complete.
Walking paths, benches, bins, etc. are usually better mapped-out (because it's built on OpenStreetMap). On the flipside, this community-driven approach leaves some roads outdated and occasionally it'll cause you having to back-track, or ending up on dirt roads. I have fun in those moments though. :)
Its navigation includes instructions for important Y-junctions in highways where Google Maps just assumes you'll take the correct lane. On the flipside it'll often tell you to "go straight" even though there seem to be no other options.
Generally when navigating, a Google Maps blunder tends to be way more annoying than an Organic Maps blunder.
It works without an internet connection by asking you to download the maps along your route up front. This can also be a hassle when you just want a quick result.
Sometimes the position-tracking experiences a delay, which can cause you to miss your turns. This is annoying and I hope it will be fixed.
Computing a route can take a few minutes depending on the distance and complexity of roads.
It uses way more battery than Google Maps.

Now, if it wasn't for this last point, I'd use it over Google Maps every time. But the battery consumption is so bad that I only use it if I know that I can reliably charge my phone throughout the trip.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

I wasn't able to install from the Play Store, but it's on F-Droid too.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

It's great with navi, its also great at finding businesses, even offline.

Organic has saved my tail a few times in state parks where I didn't have cell service. I tell everyone I know to install it just in case of emergency.

It can be more up to date, or out of date depending on the area. I pair it with Street Complete, which makes it easy to update info, or notifies you information you could provide.