the main things other map apps lack are live traffic and traffic-aware navigation (business reviews can be found in other types of apps, and imo should not be a central feature of maps)
snapshots of Google traffic data can downloaded and imported as a layer in OSMand, but the app probably won’t automatically navigate around jams, i dunno tho, i use the below for navigation.
HERE WeGo is a map app with live traffic-aware navigation. it’s owned by a European corporation i believe. i keep it in offline mode until i need navigation, then once it’s given me a route, i take a screenshot and put it back in offline mode. i know these steps don’t keep the app from knowing my location and destination, but i need to avoid traffic for mental health so i have no real choice for now.
To my knowledge, it was originally a Nokia product (started out as Nokia Maps, then ovi Maps, later Here maps) that then got bought by a joint venture of Audi (VW), BMW and Mercedes-Benz to improve their own in-car navigation.
So, not perfect, but probably better than Google.
Vela maps? I haven’t tried it myself yet, so wouldn’t know if it suits your needs.
Why cracked GMaps? If you use the web version in a privacy-respective browser than you’re good. Otherwise I’d recommend you OSMAnd and Mapy.com.
https://github.com/PimpinPumpkin/Vela Degoogled google maps
I was excited but not sure how I feel swapping Google for Claude (via AI coded app).
This is pretty good, thank you.
The only feature I need that I can’t seem to get to work is searching along the route. My company uses a specific set of fuel chains, and searching by their name to add a stop returns nothing. I even tried just “Walmart” (which is practically everywhere in the US), and nothing came up. Not the end of the world since I can plot the route using a browser in incognito & copy it over, but it is tedious to do double the work.
I wonder how much is vibe coded.
Never mind.
I don’t have the time to handwrite all code
… How did the Linux kernel (or anything) ever get developed.
That’s actually amazing, thanks!
Thanks so much! I’m gonna try this.
A debloated Google Maps would be amazing.
I’ve used a combination of OSMand and Comaps for a while now, and it works well, if lacking a few features.
There are many options being discussed in the Canada Lemmy group, Google thought it be a good idea to follow Trumps EO.
Lake America?
as a person stuck in USA, i fcking hte that sh*t
Hell is there something better than google maps, that can show traffic? I hate the way it randomly routes down dirt trails to avoid interchanges. Recently I had to put stops every 30km or so to get it to path down a straight highway instead of adding an hour to my trip by diverting 100 km north or south. There wasn’t any traffic, google just does that, and has since like 2020.
HERE WeGo shows traffic. It’ll also tell you why it’s there.
While I’ve not used it myself, OsmAnd can apparently use Google’s traffic info as an overlay.
How?
Leaving a reply as I’m very interested in that too.
Didn’t work for me I think the URL needed to change. Even then I couldn’t get it working.
Apparently their are paid for APIs you can use for live traffic.
Let us know how you go.
Magic Earth
Magic Earth showed me the OLD address for a shop, so I didn’t feel I could trust it enough to be worth paying for.
If I have to double check that my maps app is showing correct addresses, for free I can use CoMaps and Google Maps (logged out, no location access) in a web browser.
Recently did a 40 hour round trip drive, and I used that trick. Shaved 3 hours off the trip each way by adding random stops
40 hours is rough, I did Georgia to Ohio and back once, there were times when I definitely should have pulled over and napped during my shift.
I’m pretty conditioned to long stretches awake (about 35 hours is my max before I am effectively drunk). If I’m driving or something, I try to nap at least an hour or so after 18-20 hours awake.
It was a nice drive, though. 20ish hours one way, if I didn’t stop at all, which of course I did, and made several detours haha
Waze is much better than Google maps
I haven’t tried it personally, so I am just mentioning it as an alternative: Magic Earth offers traffic in their premium plan https://www.magicearth.com/traffic
I was consindering testing it for one year to see how it does compared to other navigation apps.
Trafic info is pretty good. But it doesn’t really take road works and stuff into consideration, or does so quite late fron my experience. Might be region dependent though.
Thought so, it would be nice to understand if it is possible to contribute to this “crowdsourced traffic” somehow (similar to how Waze does), and if that could be expanded to handle road works and other similar things.
If you’re looking at “cracked” and you’re on android, try looking at Sygic via Mobilism. Works well on phone
What is your goal? Maps is already free. If you want the map data without the app, you can use the free APIs to get most if the way there.
I suppose if someone put that free map and traffic data into an app that isn’t from Google and doesn’t show you ads that’s likely close to OP’s goal
Could be, but they didn’t give any details in their post. That’s why I asked what they want!
