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.
Every Door is another good alternative to StreetComplete.
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.
Please add them. I know it’s a pain in the ass to do. But if you add them and other people add other places, then it becomes better for everyone. So please contribute.
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.
At least in terms of addresses, I feel like Magic Earth is significantly better than Organic Maps.
Agreed. Not FOSS though :(
Decent privacy policy.Why do they need access to your phone, microphone, and contacts?
Yes, but as you say, they have a good privacy policy. Also their revenue model backs up their privacy policy, and I find their reasoning as to why they aren’t FOSS fair:
Will Magic Earth be Open Source?
No; since it is also used commercially (we have a paid Magic Earth SDK for business partners), we cannot make the code public.
(from the FAQ)
That’s just saying “we want to sell access to our code, so we can’t make it open source”. Basically the definition of proprietary software, no?
Proprietary software is not a better privacy choice than free software
The two things are orthogonal
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.
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…
Maybe its good for Russians or something
If your concern is privacy, do you have a particular problem with Apple Maps?
Its proprietary and made by apple. That’s why I don’t use it.
Do your research from Tor or mullvad browser before going out instead of on the go searches.
