Hacker News Reader

Comment by gordo4 | Hacker News Reader

OsmAnd is far superior to Google Maps in my opinion, especially for backcountry offline navigation. It's one of the most important apps when traveling abroad or when cell service is spotty. Google Maps is basically useless in rural South America, for example... and OSM is actually more up to date than Google Maps when it comes to river crossings, etc... and POI data is available for offline use. Google Maps can't even do offline navigation and rerouting.

View on HN

Backcountry offline navigation in rural South America is far from what most people are using a mapping app for, though.

> Google Maps can't even do offline navigation and rerouting

Yes it can, you have to download the area in advance but I use it offline all the time as I have no mobile data plan on my phone.

The whole feature is clearly an afterthought. There are so many issues with it you're much better off getting another app that's designed for offline navigation.

How does OsmAnd handle traffic? For my commute I religiously use Google Maps to learn about accidents or other blockages to make my trip shorter. Can I do the same thing with OsmAnd? (I'm thinking no, but I'm unfamiliar with how traffic data really works, so I'm open to learning that I'm wrong.)

It can absolutely do offline navigation - you have to tell it to download an area offline, but if you start navigation for a route that passes through out-of-the-way areas it'll prompt you to download the offline maps.

> Google Maps can't even do offline navigation and rerouting.

The iOS Google maps does offline navigation. I used it just this weekend on a long distance trip. You have to download the data beforehand, but if you have downloaded the data for a region you can search and route to any destination you want.

How do you tell it to download a specific location beforehand?

I'm not sure how to do in the iOS one but I ma sure it's possible because my partner does it. For Android you just need to go in the side panel and there is a Offline Maps button.

OK Thanks

Is that the ugly one where you have to download huge regions to offline just to look at where you at right now?

Huge? Not so much... OsmAnd uses vector maps, which are very small, compared to "offline" Google Maps tiles.

A couple hundred megabytes for an entire country's road system is not "huge".

Like the mobile app itself, Google Maps offline maps are also vector based.

Then how come an offline region of a national park in Google Maps is a larger download than the entire state in OsmAnd?

A couple hundred megabytes to show me a map of where I am right now is huge.

You can use "online" maps and it only downloads the visible region on your screen. It's not a few hundred megs "just to show you where you are" that is utter nonsense.

How about you just actually use the app before you make baseless accusations.

Well I asked whether this is the app with only offline mode, which would imply large downloads. You said that offline mode is so small that it doesn't matter. I didn't make any 'baseless accusation', I am working off your reply, but still without any 'accusation' at all.

How about actually reading people's messages before claiming they're making 'baseless accusations'.

No, it's the one that supports both local and online maps.

Let me know when it gets a trip planner and has a mapmaker alternative.

Both Osmand (osmand.net) and MAPS.ME (maps.me) are mobile applications with a trip planner. To make maps I recommend uMap (umap.openstreetmap.fr) which is superior to the Google Maps equivalent features in every aspects.

Cool, is there a trip planner on desktop? I primarily commute using public transportation so Google's integration with that is super cool and I'd really love something free (as in freedom) that does the same.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com