Switching away from Google Maps : Here Maps, Bing Maps, OpenStreetMap...
Вставка
- Опубліковано 14 лип 2024
- I'm still looking for alternatives to popular Google services, just to see if it would be feasible to not have all my data in one provider's hand. In this one, I'm going to take a look at map services.
Google Maps
Google maps is widely known. It's probably the richest map data-wise, with the added benefit of street view, a well-stocked satellite view, data from points of interest and businesses, and a good interface.
We're going to take a look at other services, with the requirements that they use something other than Google maps for data. I'm not expecting a Street view replacement in any of these alternatives.
Open Street Maps
OSM is like the wikipedia of maps, with anyone being able to contribute to it, trace roads, buildings, and add points of interests, and more. OSM is accessible from their website, www.openstreetmap.org, and has the basics, such as directions, and search. It lacks a satellite view, street view, and doesn't have any informations about businesses. It also doesn't have the most elegant tile set there is.
MapQuest uses the OSM database to build their maps. It's been around for a while, but it seems more focused on the US market.
Qwant Maps use OSM as well, but it's still an alpha-level product. It doesn't have a mobile application, and doesn't have directions yet. It does look nice, and has basic informations when clicking on any POI, with favorites support.
On smartphones, the choice is a bit more varied, and that's what matters. OSMAnd seems to be the best choice out there on Android, with downloadable maps for offline access, and a ton of different options including which points of interest you want to display, the look of the map, a dark theme, a car GPS mode, and many more.
It's also interesting to note that there is a project called Open Street Cam which aims to provide an alternative to Street View.
Here Maps
Here Maps was formerly a Nokia product. They provide a web interface, as well as a mobile app, called Here We Go. The web interface is pretty slow to load tiles, and returned a very limited set of Point of interests, in my tests. It does have a few informations on each of them, though, so that's a plus.
It has directions, which are actually pretty well done, letting you choose between car, bike, on foot, as well as ride sharing or even a taxi.
It also has a satellite view, and can even show some public transportation information. Here maps also have access to traffic information in certain cities.
The mobile app is alright, it is pretty clear right at startup about what kind of data it collects, and has most of what you'd expect, including directions, favorites, and traffic data. It also can change the view mode from normal to satellite, and even download offline maps, if you're preparing a trip abroad and want to make sure you'll get a functioning GPS service.
Here maps is a good proposition that could definitely replace Google Maps in my admitedly simple uses.
Bing Maps
Bing Maps is Microsoft's map service. It's a smaller proposition, including only a web interface and no mobile application. Bing maps has points of interest with a lot of data supplied by TripAdvisor, and local data providers, such as Pages Jaunes in France. It has pretty complete directions, including the ability to avoid highways or ferries, and it has traffic data to help you navigate or use it as a GPS while driving.
Bing Maps also supports a satellite view, and what they call "streetside", which is a street view equivalent. It seems to work in major cities, for example, in France, Paris had a pretty good coverage, but this feature is not available as widely as Google's.
Bing Maps doesn't seem to have a mobile application though, which is a shame, since it's where most people will use it anyway.
All in all, Bing maps is probably the best proposition on the web, outside of Google Maps, but without a mobile application to use, I just could not see myself switching to it.
Other alternatives
The first is Wikimapia, a collaborative effort to give free maps to anyone who might need them. It's distributed under the open source Creative Communs BY-SA license.
Yandex Maps is also a good proposition, but if you're trying to escape the internet giants, the Russian Google might not be the best choice.
Duck Duck Go uses Apple Maps, which looks good, but they don't provide a separate map service.
All in all, while Here Maps and Bing Maps are pretty good, I still feel they lack the polish and overall nice finish of Google Maps. Their tilesets look a bit dated and bland, and even though data-wise, they don't seem to lag behind Gmaps too much, presentation matters, and the user experience is not as polished. They both are perfectly usable though.
Qwant Maps might one day have a user experience closer to the one Google delivers, but as of now, it's just not ready. For now, I'll replace Google Maps with Here Maps, but I'm not 100% satisfied.
Follow me on Twitter : / thelinuxexp - Наука та технологія
If OSM is lacking points of interest why not add those you need to assist both yourself and the community. Actually adding information can be rewarding in itself.
OpenStreetMap is such as great alternative for me.
Je'l Awesh Medrano agree
bing maps on windows devices can download offline maps for most countries of the world. google maps is diffuclt to to .
yeah
For the record, OSM offers Bing Streetside, OpenStreetCam and Mapillary for editing (not just viewing) OSM Maps (in conjunction with a good set of sat image sets). At least in the Denver area, Streetside is pretty weak - only major streets are covered, and even those are 4-8 years old, with crummy resolution images.
Yeah streetside is not really up to par.
I live in Czech Republic where we are lucky to have even better mapping provider than google - Mapy.cz
They offer their own maps locally and open street maps outside of Czech. They have all the features as google maps like street view - car navigation, traffic, public transport... and even provide more features like skiing maps, detailed tourists maps, automatic trip suggestion and more.
Maybe you have also better local alternatives like us.
Naprosty souhlas! For me, the best feature of Mapy.cz is its support for offline route storage. I don't understand why Google Maps didn't include it in their app.
For Sailfish/Aurora OS users there's a great alternativa: Open Street Maps + Pure Maps; you may also add OSM Scout Server to provide offline maps and navigation.
OpenStreetMap is getting there, but a lot of POIs are missing. In many cities and towns though, OSM is undefeated when it comes to pedestrian routing.
RIP third world country
Google maps is the only one which covers my country very well
Bangladesh?
In Guatemala, OpenStreetMap works quite good, in some case even better than Google Maps.
@@redrock9319 Indonesia
Brazil has almost all streets covered with street view
@@fyanmuhamad4441 OSM works great here in java, where on indonesia are u?
Great. I'd been waiting for this part of the series. Thank you.
You're welcome :)
OpenStreetMaps and OSM+ 👍
I use 3 maps, _Google Maps, Waze_ and the one I like the most is *MAGIC EARTH,* its shows the mountains in nice 3D when navigating
Your videos are good but your language skills are outright amazing! Compliments! Bon job! ;-)
Thanks a lot :)
Watched, liked, subscribed! Thanks, for your videos, they are really helpfull, since i switched from windows to linux a week ago. I try to avoid google products since last year, but still haven't found a good alternative to youtube. Thanks for your effort, i really appreciate it.
I'm just here to say that the new video effects look really nice, even if the phone-over-desktop view with an active desktop might seem a bit distracting. Props for the good work!
Thanks :)
OpenStreetMap will overtake GMaps in 5 years ... I would recommend OSM maps !
Great Video :)
Seriously!!!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
lmao
it's been 5 years since comment, yet OSM will overtake the big G in the next 5 years
1:21 OSM does have information about businesses. You just have to do a lot more to get to them than on Google maps. First you need to click the lowest option in the bar on the right (the cursor with the question mark), then you click on the map where the POI you want to know more about is located. OSM will then open a list of all objects that were found where you clicked and if you select the one you want, it will show you all the informations about that POI/object that OSM has.
Bing Maps has one advantage over Google Maps in that if you right click on a property it will give you the address. This is particularly useful if you are searching for a property only has a name and not a house number. Unfortunately as it has no mobile function you then need to copy its Long/Lat reference by hand into your SatNav.
The other advantage if you are in the UK is that there is an option to display the Ordnance Survey map instead of the usual Bing Map. This is the state sponsored map producer in the UK and as well as roads etc, it shows contours, woodland, and landmarks.
It does not show IGN maps as far as I can tell. The only place I have found them on line is at walkingclub.org.uk/maps/ign-france/
IGN also is, IMO, not as good as Ordnance Survey but it does have one advantage in that the péage (toll) motorways are purple and the gratuit (free) ones are blue with a white line down the middle. There is only one motorway which has a toll in the UK, north of Birmingham although the Dartford Crossing, east of London also has a toll (but is not actually a motorway).
I personally use Here Maps for ordinary routing when moving by car, for all other activities (mainly sport related) I stick to OSM mostly because it contains the hiking or cycling trails; besides, if your area is not very well mapped, you could invest some of your free time to make it a better map, as I happely did. I live in the countryside, and I can say Google Maps data is not good at all: in a few squared kilometers there are several errors: roads not connected to each other (because they use ML algorithms to extract roads from satellite imaginery), non-existant roads mapped for copyright protection, ...
Need to download a europe map. Want to use it offline. Zero permissions would be nice too. Any ideas
OsmAnd is the best app for that.
Currently I'm using BlackBerry Maps on my Q10, since it's the most optimized for the device. For the alternative options that you've mentioned before, I've used HERE maps before for about 6 months on my older Android devices, and probably still going to use it.
Eniro is the best map service, although it only functions in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Poland. However it's a lot of reading due to there being no pop ups telling you what stuff is.
Qwant Maps might not have a native mobile app, but it *can* be installed from the browser as a PWA. Works pretty well, too! (Still doesn't have a satellite view yet, tho.)
I like Here WeGo and is my default GPS navigation app. Most important, it offer offline map.
This is the deciding factor to me, since the mobile data is super expensive in Canada.
I've switched away from Google in everything but maps. My goal was to never lose in quality, and I've managed in all except for the maps. The key would be to have a comparable mobile app, as you said, but every one I've tried falls short in some way, most notably none seem to be able to handle spotify while doing turn by turn navigation and don't allow to pin frequently visited locations on the home screen. As of now the closest is here maps but the italian voice for navigation sucks and I can only pin my home address (which is strange since the defunct windows phone version did everything well). I'm looking forward to see were they go with qwant maps though since I already use it as my search engine.
QWant maps looks like a good product, when it's finished it should be fantastic !
What's the photo one you were successfully and to replace with?
@@metin9704 to store photos online? I had a windows phone so I was already using OneDrive for that, so I didn't really search for something else.
Hey Davide 👋 how did you start to remove from all google 🤔 I would like to hear more g**gle knows too much
I LOVE Here maps!!! Have used them for years, especially the offline feature. Two thumbs up
Very nice maps alternatives. Could you please tell me what linux software you used to create / edit this video?
Kdenlive :)
Good Video. I have to say because I'm not sure if you didn't see it or know it. You said Qwant Maps didn't have all details of the Stores. Well technicly you can add them in Openstreetmap because they use OSM. Also OSM has the Feature to show Information about places if you right click the place. If you are editing in OSM you can also use Satellite images.
Yeah, Qwant Maps evolved quite a lot since that video !
It would have been nice, if the title of the app/service you are testing would be written on the screen. I often got lost, when you just mentioned it briefly once.
Représente la France 🇫🇷
Thank you very much for your videos, I especially like this series about switching away from the big 5, especially Google :) (I don't know about Bing from Microsoft though)
Thanks for watching ;)
Il faut bien que quelqu'un s'en charge ^^
Best do it before you surrender!! :P
Dammit ! We conquered half Europe, birthed the modern Renaissance, poetry, arts, allowed the US to exist as a country with military support, and surrendered once, and that's what we're remembered for ! :P
@@TheLinuxEXP Lmao. Just a bit of fun bro. I'm British, and mocking the French is in my blood (I genuinely like France BTW)! :P
Haha yeah I guess they teach you that in school there ^^ I love Britain, wish I could spend more time there !
Google Maps USED to have a nice implementaion where you could save a location to a plugged in GPS, but they killed it off. Does anyone know if there are alternatives to this functionality?
OSMAnd, which is a mobile frontend to OpenStreetMaps support importing and exporting GPX trips.
OsmAnd is open-source and it's doing perfect job :)
OpenStreetMap can be used to make a route and plan your path.
OSM is a great project ! They should really update the look of the tiles though.
@@TheLinuxEXP the default display on the main site is often used by contributors checking that their edits have upload successfully, so it tends to be quite 'busy'. Many websites that display OSM based maps use an intermediary service like Mapbox that offer a lot of style customisation and satellite imagery.
HERE maps are best solution for mobile phone, especially for its offline support. For web development, Open Street Maps seems like a best options since it is possible to host them on your own server. You just need ~20GB of free space :D
Hosting it can be quite annoying, managing updates is a bit cumbersome :)
Bing Map is actually nice. You can also have your google business appear on bing. The only downside BIG ONE is the app.
What do you think about services such as Garmin Drive?
Here maps is not but, I used it years ago but I had some issues with routes driving though.
I tested Bing and Here looking for restaurants in my area and none of them shows as many as Google but Bing shows more than Here. Why doesn't it have a mobile app? I don't understand.
Bon ça y est... tu nous donne le goût de visiter Brest :P
Un bonjour du Canada!
Ce n'est pas une belle ville, niveau architecture, mais la vie y est agréable :) peut être pas autant qu'au Canada !
it's funny I actually like the look of the more ordinece survey look of OSM I use it for planning walks which is data google maps just doesn't have
I have a question, will you make a video about smartphone os other than android?
I will try, but there doesn't seem to be much choice outside of iOS and custom Android ROMs ! (Maybe the Librem 5 as well)
I'm building a Uber like (quite different actually) android app for school. and i planned to use google maps but the direction and route API cost 5$ for 1000 requests from 0 requests. There aren't even 1000 free per month or something. I have to get a credit card in order to get the 200$ free per month and i might also public the app in the app store so i will need to find another solution.
I can use my servers to calculate the routes, what can you recommend me ?
I just need to calculate the time between two or more points. and show the distance, i don't need anything else.
Good question ! I'd look at graph Hopper and open street maps, but there might be others out there
@@TheLinuxEXP Thanks will check them out this weekend!
Are there any car GPS' that I could install OpenStreetMap onto?
Yes. If you have an android head unit you could install here maps or waze and download an offline package if OSM
what about maps.me? it is a mobile-only openstreetmap implementation, similar to OSMAnd, but it has more point of interest in my country. I'm interested in your opinion about it
Maps.Me is great, especially since the downloadable maps really help when you're traveling or working without a reliable connection.
Old topic but anyway, have you check Waze? Its nowdays owned by google, but its still its own product. It use live data from users (maybe bad) but it use it for live traffic and road mapping. Also everyone can modify and correct map from its website with some limitations (eg. where you have actually driven).
But anyway, its routing was superior while ago, allthougt nowdays google has come very close to it, but I still prefer it in some navigation sitsuation.
Bing maps can work in android if you link on browser > options > desktop site or desktop mode
I tried all before, but they are lacking in my 2nd World country.
3rd...
@@redrock9319 I actually live in what I call a "Second World Country".
It's not as bad as the "Third World", but not as nice as the "First World" either.
Well, Romania is 3rd
@@liviu5004 Go to almost any African country, Central Asia, India, then come back and tell me Romania is a Third World Country.
Our mustached Supreme Leader sometimes feels like an African Dicktator, and maybe he is worse, but the country is not there yet.
Romania is second world if we go by the historical definition. It used to be about whether the country was part of or a satellite of the western powers/USA (1st world), of the soviets (2nd world), or unaligned in some way like India (3rd world). The other meaning of "poor country" or "rich country" came later.
Apple Maps works very nice for me!.. I also like OpenStreetMap.
Merci pour cette vidéo Nicolas. Il est toujours intéressant de voir les alternatives. J'utilise OSM depuis longtemps et j'aime bien y contribuer aussi. Récemment j'ai aussi contribué au tasks.hotosm.org (cartes humanitaires - créer des cartes dans les lieux mal mappés pour les projet comme lutte contre Ebola ou autre). Je pense que tu peux faire le vidéo sur le sujet. Utilisation open source, collaboration fait partie de la thématique de ta chaîne youtube. Si cela peut attirer du monde vers OSM ou Linux. Ça va intéresser du monde! Merci pour tes vidéos ! (Autrement, temps en temps je vais à Brest - déplacement professionnel ;-).
Bonne idée ! Je vais jeter un œil! C'est rare de voir des gens qui sont le déplacement jusque là !!
Today I Learned (by playing with various map apps and focusing on the city of Brest) that many place names in western Brittany start with Ker-. All those "Ker-" places looked rather un-French until I remembered that Brittany has a Celtic history. "Ker-" in these place names means, roughly, "settlement around an economically independent farm." This is "the most widespread place-name element in Brittany" according to researcher Pierre Flatrès (doi.org/10.1080/00437956.1977.11435849). Sorry. Nothing to do with Linux. Just a quick trip down the rabbit hole.
if you find a replacement sync android contacts, be sure to tell us)
I'll look into it for the next videos :)
OSM has info on local businesses. Here's an example of a supermarket with full contact information and opening hours: www.openstreetmap.org/node/3877345991
What it does not have is consistency. Data density varies greatly from country to country depending on the effort put in by local volunteers.
Thanks very much!
Would really like an update for this. 🐺
Honestly, having only a motorcycle to travel the only viable option is just... a paper map. Google maps might be all fancy and stuff, just barely easier to use than an old fashioned map.... but considering that with all the blows and whistles it asks with GPS and data any normal smartphone's battery will only last two hours at best... your range is pretty damn shitty... even if you remember to charge it up, or unless you do a complex and inconvenient cable management wizardry. It is just not worth the hassle, unless you just want to print the route in paper from home
HERE WeGo actually has a pretty nice Tizen app for the Galaxy Watch.
Good to know, I just bought one of these :)
Maps.Me is another good proposition, focused on downloading offline maps. It’s available on iOS and Android with annoying advertising, and supports all the major mapping features you’ll probably need.
I use Mapillary as a Street View alternative, as only
Mapillary
KartaView
Bing Streetside
Are the only alternatives to Google Street View
What Linux Distro u use ?
Manjaro Budgie on this video :)
@@TheLinuxEXP Thankss ;3 have a good day
No problem :)
I use Magicearth. It is the best of both worlds: it uses Opentstreetmap and it has a nice interface which works very well.
Awesome! Thank you very much. I'm an OSM enthusiastic and a mapper myself, but never heard of that.
I never heard of it, but I'll take a look !
have you done google keep for this series
I haven't yet!
You can use open tasks as an app.
When are you switching to daliy motion or vimeo 😅?
Never 😊
I stopped using Google Maps after Google bought Waze to destroy it. Waze was a terrific package for navigation. Yes Google, you made that big mistake. Now I’m using for alternative to UA-cam and gmail.
Obviously even Wikipedia itself uses OSM for maps embedded in articles.
You should have included TomTom's "My Drive" page.
It seems like the audio is really slightly stronger in my left ear than in my right one .. maybe it's just me ?
And its poping a little bit... maybe cuz off the ne distro?
I had to tamper with it with Audacity, there was an annoying background hum from the computer that I had to remove, might have altered the sound.
@@TheLinuxEXP Oh okay, thx for the reply!
I'll try to change the recording settings for the next one, I'm still trying to figure this out after the change of PC. The laptop was a lot less noisy ^^
@@TheLinuxEXP On my "old" desktop computer, Windows 7 was running, I wanted to keep it here until it dies, because even if it's closed-source af and more, it's still one of the best Windows version ever (But I still prefer Linux :p), but now that it's on the end of it's life, I installed on a separate drive KDE Neon, then Fedora, and more to try them' all on this PC, but I noticed something : the fans was louder than on Windows 7, because on Windows 7, I had to install one program that came with my motherboard on a DVD, and it automatically control the fans speed etc perfectly well, but in Linux, I can't seem to find anything like that, and I can't install the motherboard tools because it only supports Windows. Yeah, there is lm-sensors and things like that on Linux, but as I've read, it can completely break things (software as well as hardware) and I really don't want to break anything because of that on my PC..
For you, are the Fan too loud because they're too fast even when you're not doing much or is it loud because it doesn't have good sound isolation?
[OH and generally, a dedicated graphic card makes quite a bit of sound, too]
Google Maps is probably the only Google service I can't live without without massive inconvenience.
Try others. Bing Maps works good for me.
We in czechia have seznam.cz and his mapy.cz. I think as many user use mapy.cz as google maps seznam have is own novinky.cz as news web side email client stream.cz as youtube alternative.
I personaly switch from seznam.cz to google.com but seznam.cz is for czechia goto alternative.
I wish bing maps would have an app. It would be great
what about mappy?
Vive la Bretagne !
Merci pour toutes ces alternatives à Google Maps, elles ont l'air sympa.
Are you allowed to add a comment mentioning OpenStreetMap for a video about OpenStreetMap?
I am thinking to build my own earth map
Couldn't someone or a group program an application that feeds off google maps but removes all the tracking and advertisements?
Not since it's a paid service, I think. Might have been doable before, but I don't think it would be feasible today, since costs are prohibitively high, and it might be against the terms of service as well.
@@TheLinuxEXP Waze is also owned by Google now. I guess there would be no easy way to fork it either. Maybe in the future it will be possible but not now. We could have community ran sectors. We could use our self driving vehicles to go around small areas and scan for changes. Maybe some how be compensated by the community for doing so.
Yeah any kind of open source reporting of traffic or even driving speed could do the trick !
This is the most courageous thing anyone has done this decade.
You could've included Maps.me and Locus maps. Otherwise, great video. 👌
Thanks ! Didn't know about Locus, I'll check it out !
@@TheLinuxEXP Thanks for your speedy reply. However, one thing we should probably remember here is that Locus is more outdoor oriented. Maps.me is the closest rival of OsmAND.
Yeah I saw it when I made the video, but it didn't have a web client so I didn't include it. Maybe I should have
I like en.mapy.cz/ :) just the country names are written in Czech, all other names (cities etc) are written in the language of that country
Is that the h3h3 theme in the backround?
You should try the maps.me application
thx
Does Waze use Google Maps?
No, they use their own maps, but they are owned by Google :)
@@TheLinuxEXP
Maybe they should break away and go on their own. Their map app is far better than Google's, in my opinion though.
The joke about Apple Maps is that they use OSM in countries that they haven't mapped themselves. Such as my country Belize. In my country OSM is the most detailed map. Google Maps is many years outdated.
I need payments alternative
I 've used Waze in my Android phone for almost one year and its pretty good.
It is, but it's owned by Google :)
Bing maps does have a mobile app... it's on Windows 10 mobile :P
Hahaha yeah that doesn't count, this OS doesn't exist anymore :) (which is sad cause I loved it)
@@TheLinuxEXP Yeah, I still use it as my daily driver :P
Stick with Google maps for now. Thanks for some ideas tho. 🤔
You're welcome :)
Why no Waze?
Its owned by Google :)
I often use Here
I use osmAnd - it works well but does not do street numbering. Also the voice over is bad.
Late answer but by street numbering you mean house numbers it has them. Just make sure you dont hide them in configure map -> hide
And as it is volounter edited its possible that the numbers are not added by volounters yet
Why not use an old to fashion GPS
how is waze?
Waze is a Google product now :)
@@TheLinuxEXP ok
Hi, how about maps.me?
2GIS, Yandex.Maps for Russia
@ko U. If you are trying to escape from Giants, it's not a right choice ;)
ive been drowned so deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep
and theres no way out..
the same like my kindle amazon ecosystem.
Problem is that Google was first and it ruined our minds about design anything not like that make a product feel less of a value. Btw i have high hopes for wiki maps
They do make good sleek interfaces !
Not sure if this is relevant in your country but I use Waze.
Waze is good but it’s owned by Google.
@@JohnEusebioToronto oh, I was not aware of that, please excuse my comment.
David Shields No worries. I don’t think Google wants to advertise it. it’s why Waze still exists instead of being assimilated into GMaps. If they own their #1 competitor, then they control both themselves and their competition.
Don't forget Yandex Maps.
Well I thought about it, but it's as big and questionable a.companu as Google, so I decided to leave it out :)
@@TheLinuxEXP How is microsoft not big and questionable company?
Sygic GPS Navigation & Maps
Maps.me uses openstreetmaps but for me is the best maps movil app better than google
Maps.me is great as well ! DoWnloading maps makes traveling a lot easier !
@@TheLinuxEXP not only that, but the turn by turn directions and ease of use are leaps and bounds better than OsmAnd
Qwant Maps for me ;)
You forgot mapbox...
As far as I know, mapbox doesn't have an on line service, they provide maps to other websites, but I might be wrong !
@@TheLinuxEXP In that way could have talked about Gnome Maps, it uses Mapbox I believe.
OSMAND is the best of all times
It's pretty good, yeah!!
HERE map is the best
Nobody uses maps.me???