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Boycott And Delete Google Maps
(lemmy.ca)
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this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2026
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Boycott US
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Overview:
The community dedicated to boycotting the US until they stop fascism, restore full democracy and start following international law.
Americans have a moral obligation to resist Donald Trump and project 2025 at every turn.
America is a flawed democracy currently being ruled by oligarchs. Stop the backslide! Dont let America become the next Hungary.
America needs to challenge the court rulings of citizens united v. fec and shelby county v. holder, protect the media, implement independent district drawing, and the single transferable vote so they don't end up having people stay home in life-changing elections because they cannot vote for their favourite candidate.
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if you want people to quit something, you better offer alternatives.
I tried OsmAnd in the past, I paid for it and it's still installed in my phone, but I keep going back to Google Maps for "default" maps. OsmAnd is missing the Cycle Map layer of openstreetmaps.org and is not super useful in my case. And we all know Google Maps is very bad for cycling too, but it's good at finding places, so I just make my own route instead of using the four lane artery it suggested me to cycle on.
The exception is when I'm hiking or walking long distances and need to find/record my position on a map, relative to a pedestrian path or hiking trail. For this I've always used AlpineQuest. I don't know if it's made by Americans though. AlpineQuest also has the Cycle Map layer, so it's my second favourite map app, but I mainly use it when I'm in a big park, or not in a city.
Still, openstreetmaps.org with the Cycle Map layer is wonderful for planning cycling and hiking routes by yourself. Unfortunately it's just absolutely bad at making any kind of route by itself.
I've just heard about CoMaps recently. I also don't know if it's mainly American, but it's open source, community driven, and based on OSM data, which is important. It has adresses and seems like a promising alternative to Google Maps for my "default" searches, so I'm going to give it a try. However it's just an app and there doesn't seem to be a simple website matching the mobile experience, so I'm kind of guessing that I won't try it for long.
OsmAnd which is OSM-based has both satellite view (which you can also save for offline viewing if needed) and primitive public transport (good enough for dense cities with rapid transit). It's not easy to set up and get used to but if you're ok with computers, give it a spin.
Otherwise there's mapy, which also has those features but is much easier to use and more polished. Not FOSS though.
I'm currently on a long weekend city break in a European capital using only OsmAnd+ offline for navigation & tram/metro public transport. As normal it's been absolutely flawless.
Gives us options on tram numbers to take & shows the tram final destination so we can easily tell direction of travel at the tram stops.
OsmAnd+ offline Wiki is also a goldmine as a tourist in a foreign city. Combined with Joplin notes about everything we might like to see & we are all set for exploring with no wasted time.
Joplin top tip for travel: Set up a checklist note for packing. Tick items as you pack to leave. Untick as you pack to come home. Ensures you never forget anything
I've tried but I can't find shit on there, sometimes even when I directly paste the address. Magic Earth is still not as good but much closer.
If you combine this with the apple maps web beta you can get closer to the functionality of Gmaps.
I understand that both of these aren't as good for privacy as OSM.
Acastus is what solved the Problem for me. Yes, it's a second app which is a annoying, but it works vers well.