Hi everyone im new to the OSM community but eager to contribute. Im curious how many of you use OSM on android phones and how you interact with it. I’m interested both in terms of contributing but also using it for its map functionality e.g. navigation. Based in my early research so far the most popular apps seem to be:

  • OsmAnd
  • Vespucci
  • Maps.me
  • StreetComplete
  • Organic maps
  • Magic Earth

Im really looking for your opinions on what apps are worth using and for what purpose. Do you just use one app or multiple apps for different purposes. Which app would you recommend to your tech savvy friend and which to your mum? There’s probably a bunch more i haven’t mentioned so please also highlight them and any strengths or weaknesses they have. Thanks 😊

  • Lettuce eat lettuce@lemmy.mlEnglish
    6·
    1 year ago

    Fully degoogled myself over a year ago, tested every OSM-based map software I could find, here’s my short conclusion:

    For non-techy users who wanna get rid of Google maps but want an easy no muss no fuss, Magic Earth. IMO, it’s the closest you can get to Google maps without using Google.

    Has basic traffic routing, pretty good with addresses and locations, clean UI, overall very solid app.

    I also use OSMand, it’s both better and worse than Magic Earth. It’s NOT for beginners IMO, the defaults are pretty horrible. Messy UI, confusing interface, slow and cluttered. But OSMand is a tinkerer’s app, if you have the time and interest, you can make it work very well and look pretty good too.

  • abominable_panda@lemmy.worldEnglish
    6·
    1 year ago

    I have all of them installed except maps. me… kind of looking for the best one myself

    Editors:

    Streetcomplete is for quickly contributing small details - very easy and user friendly.

    Vespucci is for advanced editing - advanced. It has its uses on the go but i personally prefer using the web editor for bigger contributions

    Maps:

    Osmand. Feature packed but can be slow.

    Organic - lighter weight. Updates the map monthly (or longer)

    Magic earth - not open source, but that gives it the ability to pull traffic data from closed sources therefore apparently very good for driving navigation

    • JackOfNoTrades@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Hey that’s really helpful thanks. I’ve also had most of them installed the last week and just trying them out (except not driving).

      I agree street complete is really easy for quick edits, also organic maps for editing in a similar way to Google maps e.g. adding business opening hours, or business websites etc.

      It’s interesting to learn Magic Earth is good for driving I may have to try it out. I’m currently mostly using organic for navigation.

      Do you recommend using the advanced editing apps (Vespucci, OsmAnd) for editing or using the ID editor on the OSM website?

  • Showroom7561@lemmy.caEnglish
    3·
    1 year ago

    I like to keep things “simple”, so while I’ve tried pretty much all of the OSM-based apps for Android, I consistently use the following:

    • OSMAnd+ (pretty much for all nagivation, route planning, etc.).
    • StreetComplete (this is great for confirming/adding details for a POI based on a fun question and answer format).
    • OSM Go! (both web and app. I use this mainly for quickly adding basic POIs like bike parking, water fountains, public toilets, etc.)
    • Every Door (specifically for adding addresses and details to buildings).
  • booklovero@lemmy.mlEnglish
    3·
    1 year ago

    I am back to using google maps here and there. I haven’t been using it for 2 years but relying on gmaps in the short term is better than relying on nothing if the map is not yet covered by osm. At the same time I improve the osm map until it becomes usable.

    Osmand is for hikin, biking, skating, quick overview for cars, map exploring, etc… for actual car driving, I use magic earth because it’s a navigation system. Osmand is a map with routing capabilities.

    SCEE is better than SC. I ditched SE once SCEE came out. Every door is useful for bulk editing.

    For armchair mapping josm, ofc.

    I’d recommend that you use the app that’s appropriate for the job and not the skill level.

    Osmand is best for hiking. better than any other map, yes better than gmaps, here, bing, etc. Magic earth is better for car navigation than gmaps. Every door is very quick in documenting the number of floors buildings have. Josm is very efficient in documenting the roof color of buildings. SCEE is great for documenting road surfaces.

      • booklovero@lemmy.mlEnglish
        2·
        1 year ago

        Cool! That makes me happy :) I dono to osmand, I love the app. I also created my own style. Love it :)

        Magic earth has a more traditional navigation system approach, that’s why I like it more.

  • ntzm [he/him]@lemmy.mlEnglish
    2·
    1 year ago

    Magic Earth is good for navigation but not open source sadly. OSMAnd is just too confusing for the average user. The routing on Organic maps is dreadful imo, but the app itself is pretty so I keep it installed.

  • ruplicant@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    2·
    1 year ago

    here using degoogled android (LineageOS) and been using OsmAnd~ (F-Droid version) for a couple of years, and i love it. it was a bit overwhelming at first, since it’s deep in its customization, but it means you can make it be as you want. it’s great for navigation (in my region OSM is a bit short on street numbers) although it took some time getting used to they way it display things like changing lanes before an exit. i found it after i went looking for a replacement for Maps.me after it went closed source

    i just recently started contributing through StreetComplete and i’m loving it, but eventually would like to move on to bigger edits (like adding buildings and roads) but haven’t explored the best way to do that. i know you can make edits in OsmAnd~ but i suspect the OSM web page on desktop will be better for that

  • AlpacaChariot@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    1 year ago

    OSMand is great, I use it all the time for driving and also hiking - it’s surprisingly good for footpaths.

    Out of the box it’s not great at UK postcodes (some are in the dataset but not all). However, there’s an open source list of post codes defined as points of interest that you can import, which means you can just search (offline) for any post code and it will take you straight to it.

    https://github.com/hvdwolf/OsmAnd-UKpostcodes/blob/master/README.md

    People from other countries with different systems may not appreciate how useful this is, in most cases if you navigate to a UK post code you can see your destination so no further information is required.