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Comment by solidrake | Hacker News Reader

Not using Google Maps is difficult, but it can be done. I'm currently using OsmAnd from F-Droid and it works awesome. I would recommend it to anyone trying to live without Google services.

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> Not using Google Maps is difficult, but it can be done.

It's not difficult to use Apple Maps on an iPhone. You make it sound like Google are the only realistic maps provider available.

Not at all, and going with what the article talks about, Apple Maps is a viable option. Although a lot of the users out there don't have Apple products.

The biggest selling point of Google Maps is not the content itself, it is the usability. And the usability is unmatched by OsmAnd at this moment.

It is such a chore to look something up in OsmAnd that makes me throw all the privacy awareness away and go immediately to Google Maps.

So while replacing Google Maps can be done indeed, it is not a pleasant experience to replace it with open source solutions.

Not only do I use OsmAnd, but I prefer it to Google maps (and not just for privacy reasons). For whatever reason, I always find it a bit fiddly to set up initially, but once I've got it working, it's really nice.

Mapquest is surprisingly still going, and it seems better than Google Maps in my limited experience with it. When visiting Orlando, FL a couple of years ago, the Mapquest app generated optimal and correct directions while Google Maps was generating erroneous ones.

There's also OpenStreetMap.org.

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