Maps.me goes open source | Hacker News Reader

Maps.me goes open source

github.com

115 pointsmzehrer37 comments

Wow this is awesome. I used Maps.me in Europe because I didn't have data and it can give you directions without data. Great app for traveling.

We used it as well some weeks ago in New Zealand for the same reasons. Very useful, even if the paths were sometimes a bit ... alternative.

"natural=bare_rock" as a POI became a bit of a private joke in our van, as it seems rocks are well mapped in OSM and displayed with that bare tag in Maps.me.

Hopefully it was marking exposed bedrock.

As with many of the responses here, I have nothing but good things to say about this app. I've used it in Australia, all over SE Asia and Sweden and it always feels reliable. As long as you can handle the occasional lack of data in remoter areas you'll be fine with it (GPS still works though).

Yes it's my go-to map when I need just a map, quick and reliable.

Google maps "offline regions" is a joke. Too limited and awkward. Google doesn't want anyone using their products without signing in or connecting to their endless "do you want fries with your maps" online offerings. This slows thing down on mobile.

Often I just want to refer to a map without even needing my location to be known, and definitely not the Internet. That's where maps.me is so good.

Great, I've been waiting for this to happen before recommending it to my acquaintances. It's the only FLOSS app that I have been able to find with all the following:

- a sane user interface,

- offline mapping and navigation,

- and a good search engine that doesn't force "Country/City/Street" fields to find streets and POIs.

It's a bit slim, but now that's under the Apache license it will surely grow features faster.

I wonder what the company's monetization strategy will be?

Ah, found it. [1] They plan to integrate it with hotel and taxi booking services.

[1] http://blog.maps.me/2015/09/mapsme-launched-its-walking-dire...

You've got to try osmand!

The sane interface and friendly search are pretty direct contrasts with OSMAnd.

I do think the new interface in OSMAnd is headed in the right direction though.

I love the new interface but you are right about the search. Somehow I thought they had reworked that terrible address 'browser' into a free form search. :-(

If you're online, it does do free form search with a geolocation API. Offline, you still need to have all of your destinations saved as favorites.

I did, but the 10 maps limit and terrible search format held me back.

How does this compare to Osmand?

The search engine is much better. You can do google-like searches, just type what you're looking for, and select the best match from the results list. In Osmand and all other open source apps, you have to first type the country and region where you think your target is located.

Also, it's very easy to start downloading an offline map for any region - just zoom in on a new area, and it provides the link for that region. Right now it's free, unlimited and it works all over the world (though of course that can change in the future). I haven't figured out how to do the same thing in Osmand, and it says the free version is limited to 10 maps.

You can use the version from f-droid.

Does it have easy direct download of maps from within the app?

The official Osmand can sideload any number of maps too, the limit is only for direct downloads; but common users won't know how to get their own maps without support from the app.

It's the full version.

Thanks, I'll give it a try for myself. In Maps.me I miss the capability to take OSM notes from within the app.

Just download directly from https://download.osmand.net/rawindexes/

Thanks, but that's not something I can recommend to my family and friends :-)

I could do it for them myself, but then they wouldn't be able to recommend the tool to their friends in turn - which is my litmus test for any open source software intended for end users.

It just costs one single meal to buy the pro version and you support the future free, open source and ad-free development development.

Then tell them to pay the $6 to support development. I think the osmand model (lite/demo with 10 map downloads, paid version with unlimited, open-source with full features for free but you have to know where to get it and how to install) is fair.

This has a simpler an cleaner user interface, but Osmand has many more features.

I haven't tried maps.me yet, but that sounds like two plusses. Osmand has too many features.

MAPS.ME is a great app, very slick and has all the signs of something that's very well developed. It's almost entirely replaced Google Maps for me, justified by the speed of its UI alone.

I'd be fascinated to know how it justifies being given away in source form like this and any business model around it.

Wishing the best of luck to the guys!

I'd love to see this make it into F-Droid! Fingers crossed!

I don't know how the F-Droid community works, but it sounds like this is where we can follow it? https://f-droid.org/forums/topic/maps-me/

EDIT: And here https://github.com/mapsme/omim/issues/85

I really like maps.me. My only annoyance so far was last week when it was keeping my phone awake for 8h and draining my battery rather quickly w/o actually having the phone open or the app in the foreground (or any navigation going on).

I did not have that problem, though navigation apps in general kill my battery.

I think the only feature I wish it had, which might be in there now, is to export the places I marked as a favorite to something such as CSV or JSON.

It can, it exports compressed kmz files, and imports kml and kmz. I used it to import bookmarks from a custom-made personal Google map.

Awesome. Thanks for the info!

I noticed that it will keep the location services/GPS running even if the app is backgrounded, at least on Android. If you kill the app that helps.

Thank you, I think mapping applications are generally still weak despite google maps etc.

I think opensource is the way to go with maps.

Are there data sources for traffic? Google maps is my go-to commuting app because it gives me alternatives to get around traffic congestion. Is there any sort of aggregation or service alternative to Google maps (and Waze)?

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh441725 and possibly the same thing: https://developer.here.com/rest-apis/documentation/traffic/t...

Despite that Maps.me is now open-source, how does it compare to Here (Maps)?

I don't think Maps.me has voice navigation or online live traffic alerts like Here does.

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