GMaps VW (android only) + Organic Maps is the best open source mapping solution imo.
Can anyone point to the source code please? They claim it is “privacy friendly”, so it cannot be proprietary, right? right? right?
Your comment got me curious so I had a look.
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.
Oh ok so there is no way to independently verify its privacy or security. Doesn’t belong in this community then IMO.
Atleast its based in the EU, but yeah hard to tell what the black box does
I think you have a wrong understanding of software auditing. Software can be closed source and 3rd party auditors can assess if it has good privacy and security implementations.
Being closed source doesn’t necesarily mean it’s bad (for privacy/security).
But then you have to trust, 1, the auditors (I assume by your comment you mean the people given closed door access to the code, reviews it, then publishes a statement saying their claims are valid, that kind of third party auditing?); 2, the code they disclosed to the auditors is the actual complete codebase; 3, that between the current version and the next they did not add anything fishy; and last but not least, 4, the binaries they give you is actually built from that codebase and nothing else, since you can’t build it yourself if you’re really that worried.
I don’t fully disagree that you can have a private and secure proprietary app, sure you can, but I argue that there are some really big hurdles and you can never have 100% trust in it. Whether these things is a dealbreaker depends on your own values, opinions, and threat model, of course. If you’re choosing between this and Google Maps, then this is almost certainly better in terms of privacy and security.
I suppose you can also decompile it and analyze it that way, but that’s very difficult and compared to reviewing an open source app, pretty much no one is going to do it. You also don’t have the same level of community attention and contribution on the code itself as an open source project would where people are forking it, implementing features they want and sending pull requests, and going through the codebase to learn how it’s implemented in order to develop their own projects. All of which gives many opportunities for other developers, usually ones very concerned about privacy and security themselves, to notice and sound the alarm on unethical or insecure code in the app, basically getting tons of community driven audits all the time.
How many people are actually auditing an open source app themselves though? And if they don’t, they again need to trust others’ opinion.
Is there a way to download the official APK without relying on Google Play Store or Aurora Store?
There are websites which scrape the play store, and let you download apks without login. The problem is you cannot be sure that you get the same apk as you would get from play store. (But actually you cannot be sure about anything on play store as well: the developers build the apks and upload it, e.g. an attacker impersonating the developer can publish a fake apk to play store.)
With these things in mind, you can download apks from apkpure without login to anything: https://apkpure.com/magic-earth-navigation-maps/com.generalmagic.magicearth Afaik they never had an incident where their apk was different from the one on play, but you cannot be sure when they change their mind.
Doesn’t seem to be available for iOS in the US App Store.
I tried switching my VPN to Netherlands, but still couldn’t access ME.
Ah that’s strange, I wonder why that is. I installed it from the app store a while back before it was removed, which is why I still have it on my phone. Not sure why they did that.
Apple has a competing Map app, just sayin’.
It’s on the UK iOS store
Meh, if that were the reason Google Maps would also be unavailable
Size matters.
Besides, Apple and Google conspi….rrr…collaborate on other projects and standards; can’t have an app queering that.
Fair point, and made me laugh
If that was actually the reason, Apple wouldn’t have allowed OsmAnd Maps, Maps.me, etc. and yet they’re in the US app store.
Can confirm, got a pop up saying same just now.
Wow. Major fail-and-uninstall for me: There’s a repertory movie theatre across town I visit once a month and always use Google maps for traffic and routing advice. Magic Earth couldn’t find it.
Follow-up after using Magic Earth to navigate to an intersection up in the local hills: It worked, but I didn’t like that it wasn’t indicating street names in the read-aloud directions–just “turn left, turn right”. That might be a must-have feature for me.
You can add it personally at openstreetmap.org
Hadn’t considered that–you’re right! 👍
I’ve discovered that it IS on OSM–but I had to search for the exact string (“aero american cinematheque”).
This might be Europe only. Blocked in US App Store
Edit: this is likely the case…at least for now. Screenshots on website are European
It’s not, I installed it in the U.S. just fine.
When and where
You must be android or something since it’s not available in iOS App Store in USA
It was definitely available in the US App Store earlier this year because I have it installed on both of my iOS devices. I can’t find any info as to when and why it was removed.
Seems to be in the UK iOS store
Currently using Magic Earth as its the default map application for /e/OS (mobile OS). Been liking it for the most part, but sometimes searches for a place comes up with results that are way far away.
Crowd sourced is the worst. When ease was new and was crowd sourced it would always have me make a right onto a side street, take an immediate left and then another right to continue on the same street I was already on.
I really hope that isn’t what they mean my crowd sourced.
I’ve seen that happen in both Google Maps and OpenStreetMaps…
But the nice thing about something crowdsourced like OpenStreetMaps, is that I can just hop on their editor and fix the street that is broken.
Would not addition people that continue to do the same thing override your fix?
When a piece of road is properly connected, there’s very little reason for others to go and disconnect it again.
There’s also an approval system, so changes made has to be reviewed by others, and you have comments to explain why and what you did.
Disconnected roads like the one OP mentions happens by accident, not by intention.
All the fixes I have put into OpenStreetMaps has stayed there.
Thanks for the detailed explanation as I was really curious.
Lol Google Maps did that shit to me literally yesterday, it happens all the time.
Some perspective from a user who’s been on Magic Earth for well over a year:
- It works very well. With a few quirks, it’s like 90-95% as useful as Google Maps for a majority of personas
- It’s a mature app, finds most addresses (with possible exception of recent changes like a business moving)
- Does surprisingly well with being current on traffic conditions
- While not FOSS, they seem to be open about what they sell of your information and it’s in aggregate, so I’m much less worried about location data being tied to other online dossiers I’ve left in my digital paper trail.
I found that Organic Maps and OsmAnd+ just couldn’t cut it at all for finding addresses, routing wasn’t super great (or intuitive), and otherwise rated very low on family acceptance as a replacement for Google Maps. I used Acastus Photon for addresses and frankly it’s not that much better and the workflow was janky and pretty useless when you want to plot route waypoints. Magic Earth was the bridge between fully de-googling and having a livable acceptance factor. So far I haven’t seen them doing anything they don’t claim (not getting in trouble privacy-wise), so I’m good.
I would say “privacy friendly” is accurate in the title - but this is not FOSS. Even so for those looking to de-google without losing utility, I recommend it and am glad it exists.
Edit: I wish some apps (looking at you Starbucks!) would use a default mapping engine like Magic Earth instead of expecing Google Maps on Android phones (Graphene, Lineage, Calyx)
somehow i got stuck on heads up display, and i cannot figure out how to disable it now!
Settings > Navigation > Car > Head-up Display
Legend thanks!
I agree completely with your review of Magic Earth. I will say that I keep some maps on my phone in Organic Maps as well. They are easier for me to follow when hiking on forest trails. When we went trailblazing on snowshoes, it made finding our way back to the main route simple.
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Thank you for your feedback
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Some icons of the undergrounds have different license. Read your first link carefully. And you link the source of the ui, or you don’t consider png files as “source”?If it wouldn’t be foss, it couldn’t be built by the f-droid build system, it can only build foss projectsEdit: i was wrong
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Aha, I see, you can consider it whatever you want, maybe the “not fully free software” would be a better term, but “not open source” is too harsh, because source is open, as you can see it, but doesn’t fit the definition of Free Software as defined by FSF. If you use requirements by FSF, please use their terminology as well, it’s confusing.
Also please contact FSF, because they recommend this non-free app on their website: https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Collection:Replicant-expanded#Navigation
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Just get OrganicMaps
Organic routing just isn’t very good sadly. If it were I’d use it
I haven’t noticed a difference yet. It does perform way better though
Just downloaded and happy. Thanks for the recommendation :)
Not open source no thanks. I’ll stick to Organic Maps.
Seriously, y’all should try organic maps, particularly if you like to hike in places without reception.
Does it work with Android auto?
Project seems dubious based on other comments but I’ve yet to find anything that’s good and respects privacy while also being on Android auto.
It does yeah, the UI is very similar to Google Maps
I replaced my Garmin sat nav with an old android phone using Magic Earth and it’s great for the most part. However, even after updating the maps last week, on our recent holiday around Scotland it wanted to send us up through a ‘new’ housing estate to get to the other side. Unfortunately, the main road was now closed off and then it was trying to get me to drive through someones living room to get back to the main road. The map kind of showed new housing estate roads but not to the scale of this development.
Also, the export favourites function is pretty useless. It exports a sqlite db but there’s no visible way to import this into another copy of Magic Earth.
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How to make voice navigation works on magic earth with graphene os? I tinkered a bit and wasnt able to make it work
I have GrapheneOS and recently tested Magic Earth and Organic Maps, in my rural area around town. For me, MagicEarth audio worked fine, but Organic Maps was mute…
Magic Earth found specific street addresses better than Organic Maps/OSM, but couldn’t list street names, just like OSM.
AFAIK, this is because Graphene prevents the downloading of the Google voice modules that have access to local street names. I could be wrong on this.
TLDR; You can’t. GrapheneOS prevents it because Google owns the voice modules including the specific street names and most privacy invading maps software tracks your location in order to vocalize the basic naviation and street names.
It (ios app store) says not available in my region. does anyone know where I could find what region to spoof to get it? (also I know I should get android im working on it)
Did you contact the developer? It’s open-source, why would they restrict it?
I just realized it isn’t open source, not sure where op got that from, so I’m just not gonna get it.
It’s not OpenSource unfortunately
