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Comment by pieterhg | Hacker News Reader

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pieterhg

I made a site for Google alternatives this week called https://nomoregoogle.com.

The only real alternatives for Google Maps as a consumer are:

- https://wego.here.com/

- https://openstreetmap.org/

Alternatives for Google Maps embedded in your app are:

- https://mapbox.com/

- https://leafletjs.com/

- https://www.nextzen.org/

- https://www.mapcat.com/

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There are lots more OSM-based alternatives for particular use cases.

For example, for a mobile app, try OsmAnd or maps.me. There are also 'niche' apps such as MapOut, which is an outdoor-focused iOS mapping app with gorgeous cartography.

Or for bike routing, try https://cycle.travel/map (disclaimer - my site), Komoot, CycleStreets or many others. OSM is historically very strong on walking and cycling, while being less focused than Google on car navigation.

openstreetmap.org itself expressly doesn't aim to be a consumer-facing website; it's principally a portal, community and editing interface for mappers. The OSM philosophy is "we provide the data, you take it and build the apps".

I have recently started using a MapTiler which has a great features for a reasonable prices. And also as an osm-based alternative i have to say it has really nice UX. https://www.maptiler.com

Apple recently launched MapKitJS: https://developer.apple.com/maps/mapkitjs/

Thanks for mentioning, I wasn't aware of it. Looks a great alternative to Google Maps

In the UK at least, Bing Maps is also excellent; it provides free access to Ordnance Survey 1:25000 and 1:50000 mapping, which is top quality. The OS maps are orthorectified for the Bing projection, so route plans line up properly.

Thank you for https://wego.here.com/ <3. I use their Android app, had no idea they had a web app to. And incidentally loads like 100x quicker than Google Maps.

I've used MapBox on an a few projects and absolutely loved the experience and API. But I kind of believe Mapbox is more of a "best tool of the job" type of alternative. (Meaning, I wouldn't use it for general purpose mapping. More like mapping out specific points of data.)

I would add https://openlayers.org to your second list if you're going to include leafletjs.

Thanks for making this, looks neat.

Quick observation, my votes dont seem to stick. (Most likely I am doing something wrong). How do I vote correctly?

Sorry that’s a bug with vote processing because I received some vote spammers, fixing now!

Fixed!

Thanks for quick followup there.

> https://wego.here.com

It doesn't work with uBlock Origin. Maybe this[1] is why.

[1] https://cl.ly/937a69631c0d - It's in Malvertising filter list by Disconnect.

Why is bing maps not a "real alternative" for consumers?

https://www.bing.com/maps

Does it have an app for my phone? Can I download maps to my phone for offline use?

Mostly cause it's another BigTech company

On my phone I pretty much use wego, as it has offline maps for free including navigation with public transport for many cities.

What about Apple Maps?

Any recommendation on an alternative for a well documented API similar to Google Places?

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