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CoMaps – FOSS Offline Maps (comaps.app)

789 points by basilikum · 5 days ago · 213 comments on HN

Article summary

CoMaps is a free and open-source offline maps app that allows users to navigate without internet connection, prioritizing privacy and community involvement. The app is a fork of Organic Maps and Maps.Me, and its development is driven by a community of contributors. CoMaps offers features such as offline search and route planning, and it does not collect user data. The app is available for download and is designed to work efficiently with minimal battery drain.

Main themes

  • Offline Maps
  • Open-Source Development
  • Privacy and Security
  • Community Involvement
  • Navigation and Routing
  • Forking and Governance

What commenters say

  • The fork of Organic Maps was necessary due to governance and transparency issues, including the inclusion of proprietary components and lack of input from the broader contributor community.
  • CoMaps has improved upon Organic Maps in terms of development activity and features, such as tile styling and map data distribution.
  • Some users prefer CoMaps over Organic Maps due to its fully open-source nature and lack of sponsored content, while others see no significant differences between the two.
  • The lack of live traffic information is a major drawback of CoMaps and other OpenStreetMap-based apps, which rely on community contributions rather than telemetry data from millions of users.
  • Contributing to OpenStreetMap through apps like StreetComplete can help improve the accuracy and completeness of maps, especially for features like hiking trails.
  • The process of adding new data to OpenStreetMap can be automated to some extent, but often requires manual editing and verification to ensure accuracy and topology.
  • Some users appreciate the record track feature in CoMaps and the ability to download updated maps regularly, while others miss features like live traffic information and accurate timing estimates.
  • The development of CoMaps is seen as a positive step towards creating a community-driven and transparent mapping project, but some users are skeptical about the potential for success and the challenges of competing with established players like Google Maps.