Comment 33YA Re: OpenStreeMap

Story

Nokia's Here offline navigation for Android no longer in "beta"

Preview

OpenStreeMap (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2015-02-14 20:45 (#33F6)

I'll keep using the opensource, fully offline, non-tracking, non-corporate-owned OsmAnd, thank you ...

Re: OpenStreeMap (Score: 1)

by evilviper@pipedot.org on 2015-02-14 22:01 (#33HS)

OsmAnd is HORRIBLE. Doesn't know street numbers, requires carefully inputting an address across several fields. Has practically no POI. etc.

Nokia's Here is... not horrible. In fact it's very good. (Offline) POI is not as up-to-date as (online) Google Maps or MapQuest, or a select few offline non-free navigation apps like Sygic.

And if you're driving a non-trivial distance, traffic info is invaluable. It's not possible for any open-source, non-tracking app to give you traffic info.

Re: OpenStreeMap (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2015-02-14 23:11 (#33WW)

Mmmmh, in my region, I have tons of POI, even bicycle paths, hiking paths and street numbers, so I guess it is a YMMV situation. As for inputing address ("carefully" ? what does that even mean, can you type it with a hammer when using Here ?), I usually point on the map the place I wanna go and ask for directions, but yes there are improvements to be made to the UI.

The nice thing is that if your region is not mapped well enough for your taste (for POI, street numbers, etc.), you can just go to openstreetmap.org and fix it. It will be in the next update of the maps. Besides, independently of OsmAnd, I found that Openstreetmap is much more up-to-date than even Google Maps or MapQuest. New constructions, streets, buildings, one-way changes appear within a few days.

I guess there are crazy mappers over here and not in your city.

What I really miss though is the directions using public transportation that Google Maps provides in many big cities with timetables and all the bells and whistles.

Re: OpenStreeMap (Score: 1)

by evilviper@pipedot.org on 2015-02-14 23:37 (#33YA)

As for inputing address ("carefully" ? what does that even mean
You can't just type an address as a single string into OsmAnd. Instead, it requires you tediously input it as separate fields, one after another, and only works in the proper order, like so:

http://media02.hongkiat.com/offline-gps-maps-osmand/address.jpg
but yes there are improvements to be made to the UI.
That's the under-statement of the decade. Frankly, it boggles my mind that it's possible to make something so awful. Seems like they went out of their way, trying to think of all the ways they could make it more horrible, instead of just copying the UI of Google Maps or similar.
The nice thing is that if your region is not mapped well enough for your taste (for POI, street numbers, etc.), you can just go to openstreetmap.org and fix it.
Yeah, in the same way the "nice thing" about a car breaking down after you get it home from the mechanic, is that you can just go fix it yourself.

Junk Status

Not marked as junk