Hey, howdy, hallo,

It’s not often I start using a new app and instantly want to share it. Especially when I haven’t had a ton of time to test it. That being said, I think this one is worth sharing.

Today, we’re talking about maps.

Now when I talk about my map usage, it’s from the perspective of someone living in a densely populated area who uses maps 99% of the time for driving, and the rest for walking directions. So I don’t have much of an opinion when it comes to public transit or other features in maps.

OsmAnd - Open Source - Installed and used for offline mapping.

I’ve tested OsmAnd a couple of times for driving directions, but I didn’t like it. I find the interface clunky, mostly because it has an overwhelming amount of options. Now that being said, I still have it installed on my phone because I think it’s currently the best option for offline maps. I like to keep a downloaded copy of the maps for my general location, just in case I need them and cell service/internet is out.

Magic Earth - Closed Source - Not installed, I don’t currently use it

Magic Earth is closed source based on the open source OpenStreetMap. The experience for navigation while driving is MUCH better than OsmAnd. Overall I liked the experience, but I wasn’t the biggest fan of using a closed source app for my navigation.

Garmin DriveSmart - Currently using this

This is a physical device that I purchased ~3 years ago. I’ve been using it for my full-time navigation needs. It’s been great and, hands down, has the best mapping. When you’re approaching your exit on the highway, it shows an image of the exit and what the sign looks like, so you know what to look for. After you’ve been driving for a while, it shows you places to stop for a rest or for gas.

One of the reasons I’ve been using this option for so long and on day-long road trips is that it has live traffic data as well. Now this comes with a caveat. There is "more" real-time data if you want to pair your unit with your phone and their app. That was not something I wanted to do for privacy reasons. But the power cable does have an FM Receiver built into it. I had no idea how this worked at first, but (typically) when you’re near cities, some FM radio stations broadcast traffic data using TMC (Traffic Message Channel), which the Garmin can receive. When the unit gets this data, you’ll see the road shaded yellow or red, and you’ll see a box that shows how much time is being added because of traffic. It will also present an alternate route to avoid it (if available).

This is good, but it’s not great. I’d say it’s accurate 80% of the time, but on a long road trip that can cost you an hour. It can also be a little slow to update without much advance notice of a slowdown. And since it only works well near large cities (in my experience), if you’re on a stretch of highway that doesn’t have much around it and there’s an accident, you won’t find out about it. If Google Maps traffic data is the specialized tool for the task you’re trying to complete, this is like using a hammer. You’ll get the job done, but it might not be pretty, and it’ll take you longer.

That being said, it’s been my favorite option and the one I’ve stuck with the longest. No log in needed, free map updates, and it requires no network connection. It also has another major downside: it’s a completely separate device you need to carry around. One thing I do like about this is that when you use a product from a company whose entire business is focused on what you’re using it for (in this case mapping), they tend to do a much better job at it than a company where it’s just another feature.

This is why I got annoyed at previous jobs when management would say, "well just build xyz so we don’t have to buy it." If the company we were getting a quote from built its entire business around that one product, it was probably WAY more complicated than we were being led to believe. Not always, but most of the time. Ok, let’s ‘reroute’ and get back on track.

New kid on the block - Vela Maps - Open Source - Currently testing this one, might switch to it

I learned about Vela Maps about a week ago. I installed it, started looking through the options, and immediately liked what I saw.

My biggest complaint about the Garmin (besides convenience) is traffic data. In a large, populated area, especially around rush hour, avoiding an accident or congestion can save you massive amounts of time. I got into the habit of loading Google Maps in my phone browser before leaving to check traffic, even when I was using the Garmin. That helped at the start, but once I was driving, I was back to relying on the FM traffic updates, which aren’t always the best.

So that’s initially why Vela Maps caught my attention. The developer describes it as:

"what NewPipe is to YouTube, for Google Maps".

"no Google SDK, no Play Services, no API key, nothing to sign in to. It looks like Google Maps because that is the point; underneath, almost none of it is."

So what does it make requests to Google for?

"Search, tap a place or ask for a route and the device itself scrapes Google’s public web endpoints (per-user, no backend) for the things only Google does well: search, hours, reviews and photos, and traffic-aware ETAs."

This traffic-aware ETA does come at a price, though:

"While you’re actively navigating, Vela does ask Google for fresh traffic from your current position every couple of minutes."

There is an option in settings to turn off the re-check if you prefer.

There’s also ALPR integration, so you can see all the data from the DeFlock project’s on your map.

Again, I haven’t put much time into testing this yet (I hope to in the next week or two), so don’t take my word for it. The app is still very new and in beta. But so far from what I’ve seen, it’s looking extremely promising. Give the docs a read over and see if it works for your threat model. And if it doesn’t, consider some of the other options. If you’re already using Google Maps, then switching (or at least testing) should be a no-brainer. There’s a ton of settings, so if you do install it, take the time to go through those.

Organic Maps

While I’ve never used Organic Maps before, I have seen it recommended by others. So it’s also worth checking that out.

You can lose a lot of privacy if you use an invasive navigation app. Take a minute to review your setup and see if there’s potentially a better option out there for you.

I hope you had a great September, and I’ll see you in October!

-Josh

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