Technology

That's the price of privacy. Google has that traffic data because there are so many drivers with thier app installed. If you are OK with a giant corporation monitoring your every move, then of course that convenience is a good reason to use thier services.

Data is the new oil.

https://www.magicearth.com/ has traffic.

If your primary goal is finding out how to get from A to B and not caring about the very fastest way to get from A to B right now, then you don't need traffic data.

Maybe for you, but there are use cases where traffic data isn't vital, like driving in small or medium sized towns where traffic doesn't ever get too bad. Or road trips where there is only one feasible route, and any other way would take hours longer.

But yeah, traffic data IS awesome, I'm not arguing with that 😄

For using osm as a map, it's great and very detailed. For cycling navigation it's ideal. And beats Google maps that fails to find a route without a data connection. Like when roaming. And in many poorer countries, where humanitarian agencies desperately need maps, Google doesn't bother to map any details, because there is no money in it for them. Fail again.

And, as with railways, companies love to build new, as you get a monopoly. But maintenance? No financial benefit to doing that.

I'm honestly having so much fun getting out in my neighborhood and completing quests

In trying to find privacy-oriented map software, I found OsmAnd as well as OrganicMaps and shortly thereafter began contributing to openstreetmap. It’s actually quite easy and IMO fun to find discrepancies and use your knowledge to help an open data set.

Not only have I seen my edits show up in proprietary softwares, but the area around me is more accurate, to the point where recent construction to the road network was updated on OSM and Apple Maps, but not Google maps.

I just checked and Google maps is still out of date.

StreetComplete is another good app for adding details to the map, and it lets you select the type of things you want to add 👍

What is really frustrating to me is that my county actually has almost all of the data (including outlines and address numbers) publicly available and downloadable. There is a Wikipage on Open Street Maps written in 2020 talking about how that data has been downloaded and prepped and that it will be imported in 2021, but it never was. The wiki page was last updated 3 years ago.

I'm technologically competent enough to add things individually on OSM or StreetComplete, but that import is way above my technical understanding. I would love to donate or maybe even pay someone to finish what was apparently started, but I don't even know who to contact about it.

Fdroid reports some seriously sus anti features, although I know it can be over dramatic. Anything to be worried about?

The house numbers is due to map data being incomplete. You can help with that by adding data with an app called street complete its free and on playstore. We need more people adding data to osm or it will never get better

Alternatives to Google Maps aren’t great. The only place where I find Organic Maps better is China, since the authorities have stunted GM there.

For driving in Europe I find TomTom better (whereas both Apple Maps and Google Maps are better in the US), but in terms of POI Google reigns supreme.

They’re often the same thing in a map software.