cross-posted from: https://psychedelia.ink/post/526072
My impression of Organic Maps immediately improved when I started driving. It talks! It knows exit numbers! It can tell you which lanes to use! Sure, it isn’t as polished as Google Maps, but all of the functionality is present. The UI is high-contrast and easy to read, although I wish the text showing exit numbers/street names was a little bigger. When you’re simply on the road and following directions, Organic Maps feels every bit as intuitive as Google Maps.
As my fiancee and I prepared to set off into the boonies, I plugged in the address of our hotel. About 45 seconds later, Organic Maps returned the 300-mile route to our destination. It can take a lot longer to calculate longer routes using your phone’s processor instead of a huge cloud server. It didn’t really bother me though; 45 seconds is nothing compared to the 6-hour trip ahead. If that’s the cost of using a maps app that doesn’t spray your personal data all over the internet, I’ll pay it.
I know it’s a personal preference but I hate talking maps. Google Maps is unbearable.
“In 100 m at the roundabout take the third exit and follow A-345 direction Fukington”
5 second later…
“At the roundabout take the third exit and follow A-345 direction Fukington”
Just shut up…
My favourite is Magic Earth. I don’t now how they did it but I can use it without voice directions. I think it goes down to couple of things:
super smooth animations: I always places me at the right spot, even at the roundabouts I can see where I am in relation to the exit. OSMAnd+ completely sucks here, it cannot put me correctly even on the road. Google Maps often hangs up right at the roundabout when you most need it. Super irritating.
great zoom: it just does it right. Zooms out when driving faster, zooms in at turns and when I slow down. Even Google Maps doesn’t have such a nice zoom, don’t know why
lane indications: when showing the path it only marks the correct lane. So if there are 3 lanes that go to 3 different exists it will show you which lane to follow, not just which exit to take. It’s always clear where I have to be. With Google Maps I always need extra clues like I have to check the name of the exit on the map and compare with the signs.
So yeah, I know it a matter of getting used to one solution or the other but for me Magic Earth is the most natural way to use navigation.
Just turn the voice off in Google maps?
I do. Magic Earth is still better. I think Google Maps actually expects you to drive with the voice on so when you turn it off you need to look at all the other cues. For me just looking at the map in Google Maps is not enough to understand where it wants me to go. I have to do things like counting the lights until the turn on read indications on the signs and compare them with the map. With Magic Earth I can just see where to go.
Interesting, I might try it, although Google Maps has the advantage of having live traffic info…
Magic Earth has live traffic. What it’s missing are all the POIs. You pretty much have to know the address to go somewhere. Saying ‘get me to the business name’ rarely works. But if you’re using it for longer trips and just want directions to a different town or can bookmark the most common destinations it’s fine.
Honestly, driving while looking at a screen to see where you need to go sounds dangerous to me. Now I don’t know your setup or how you do it, so you do you, maybe it does not distract you, I know it would distract me.
So you just follow the voice commands? In my experience it’s simply impossible. Most common issues are:
google says “at the roundabout take the 3rd exit” but the roundabout has an exit to a short service road leading nowhere or a one way road that’s not really an exit. Do I count those two? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Depends how those are mapped. Impossible to know without looking
“In 50 meters turn right” but there two streets, one maybe 10 meters after the first one. Which one does it mean? If you’re driving 40km/h it’s impossible to tell without looking. It will say ‘turn right’ in almost exactly the same moment for both streets
“take the exit” but the road splits right after exiting. which way do I go after exiting? Sometimes it will say “exit and keep right”, sometimes no. depends on how those roads are mapped.
I prefer to just look at the screen from time to time. With a good map a quick glance clarifies everything. With google maps trying to figure out what’s going on when it’s suddenly not clear where to go is much harder. But I probably depends on the town you’re driving in and how used to it you are.
If its somewhere new sure, can be an issue. If its somewhere where I have been and just don’t remember the way 100%, not an issue really.
Cannot say anything about google maps, I use Osmand+ on my phone. That also has been pretty consistent for example with your problem off counting roundabout exits. Anything you could go out is an exit. Doesn’t matter if its a small road or whatever.
But honestly I fond this in general less of a problem, because I don’t look at my phone at all I am looking at signs as well. So if my phone says second exit, I already see on a sign where that exit is as I drive up to the roundabout.
Maybe you are fine just taking a glance and I certainly don’t want to judge you on this, but it just takes one time that you are “just taking a glance” where you miss something going on on the street and well, thats all it takes, one time. Then its too late. Please reconsider that and maybe try and get more used to listening again.
I don’t know how you imagine this but I have a map on the infotainment screen and looking at it is no more distracting than looking at your dashboard or operating your radio. It’s normal part of driving. No one looks at the road 100% of the time.
To be quite honest the routing issue you’re referring to is most likely related to invalid/outdated mapping data, as opposed to the routing algorithm the mapping engine uses to navigate.
The benefit of using OpenStreetMap data for routing is that if you spot a mistake or a route that is incorrectly mapped you can fix it yourself, or leave a note for mapping contributors to examine and resolve. You can also browse the mapping data history and see exactly who and when mapped this region and even contact them if you wish.
OSM supports much more mapping data via tagging, which translates to more accurate driving directions. To err is human, and OSM mappers make mistakes as well, but these can be easily fixed.
Magi Earth uses OSM. I know you can update it, I do.
The issue I have with OSMAnd+ is that the GPS is inaccurate to the point of making it unusable. I know probably something with how it works on my phone and not a widespread issue but still, Magi Earth just works better for me. And even when OSMAnd+ worked on my previous phone Magic Earth was still way better due to all the things I wrote about.
I absolutely hate the robot lady telling me where to drive. I can’t even believe that’s the normal way of navigating for some people. I’m used to (and this is a shocking concept) looking at a map and figuring out where to go.