Old post is here: https://lemmy.world/post/14437575
Both OSM and Organic Maps are SEVERELY lacking in businesses. So many places aren’t in the directory.
You search for fast food and only a couple pop up. Search for s fancy steakhouse by name, nothing. It shows about half of the weed dispensaries in my area…
Is there a way to update the “phonebook”?
Has shitgle been spending money trying to make all other maps unusable? It sure fuckin seems like it.
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You can easily add POIs with streetcomplete, osmand or directly on osm.org . Just add POIs whenever you search for it and it is missing. It’ll take some time depending on your area but if you don’t start today, there won’t be an alternative for you tomorrow. Ask a friend to do the same. My area has more pois and details and is more up to date and the location is more accurate than google.
Please add them if they are missing. It’s open source, y’know?
Nearly all open source map apps (definitely OsmAnd and Organic Maps) use openstreetmap.org as a data source which is literally a wiki, ie. anyone can edit it. If there is a lot missing in your area on OSM, then please add those things yourself. It is exactly as good as volunteers made it.
At least in terms of addresses, I feel like Magic Earth is significantly better than Organic Maps.
Thanks. Never heard of this before. I’ll take it for a spin.
But they don’t have more data than organic maps since they’re using OSM too.
They have live traffic data, which OSM doesn’t have.
In terms of search, there are algorithmic ways to get smarter results compared to what is built in OSM per default. So if other users say that the results are better, magicearth might be doing some magic under the hood.
The post specifically mentioned POIs, and as far as I have tested (in France at least), Magic Earth has the same incomplete/missing POI database as organic maps, coming from OSM.
Most responses tell you to add them yourself which is a solution to this problem. But I think the reason why the state of businesses on OSM and Organic Maps (which uses OSM as a source) is so dire is interesting too:
OSM must not use other maps as sources. In fact, they must not use any information that hasn’t been licensed in a way that specifically allows OSM to use it. As such, they can’t just go to Google Maps and copy all the business information over because Google has not licensed that information in an open way. Information like streets, paths or houses can be gleaned from satellite pictures that have been provided to OSM and can be put in easily so they tend to be up-to-date. But for businesses, someone has to actually go there and confirm the information.
Now why is Google so good at that? Because almost every business owner makes sure to put their business on GMaps themselves and keep that information updated so it doesn’t depend on one person going through the area regularly.
They’re all crowdsourced, but the non-Google/Apple crowd is much smaller. This shouldn’t be surprising.
Although I’m sure that Google and Apple also have people being compensated for adding places, either actual employees, contractors, or micropayment style. The FOSS ones don’t have that.
Easily done within Magic Earth
I’ve tried magic earth and am using organic maps right now. It’s pretty good and I use it. Though, it won’t have traffic reports and stuff which kinda sucks. For busing around, I use the website my county bus system has, which has a google map backend thing which shows which bus stops to go to.
Do your research from Tor or mullvad browser before going out instead of on the go searches.
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Yandex Map, but quality depends on the country. Otherwise, Organic Maps are the only decent option.
Never expected to see Yandex mentioned in a privacy focused forum…
Depends who you need privacy from. I recall Stallman’s advice about VPNs - that to avoid having your information turned over you should choose a VPN from a country whose government is no friend of your government. Depending on your threat model, I could see this being the same principle
If your concern is privacy, do you have a particular problem with Apple Maps?
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If your concern is privacy, do you have a particular problem with Apple Maps?
Yeah, he just said he’s got a problem with privacy. So, Apple and Google maps are out.
So, what are the **specific ** privacy problems with Apple Maps?
Oh my god! I’ve got one!! I’VE GOT ONE!!!
Go on ….
