Use OpenStreetMaps
Yeah I know it could be incomplete at times but its our job as a community to improve it if we want "free" software
this post was submitted on 26 Oct 2025
558 points (98.6% liked)
Technology
76517 readers
2555 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related news or articles.
- Be excellent to each other!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
- Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.
Approved Bots
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
But, but I want my stuff to work perfectly without me putting any effort or paying monies 😭
Try CoMaps, it works great (as long as the area is mapped in OSM)
load more comments
(1 replies)
remember when apple didn't have ads because they were premium?
All of these Big Tech companies are slimy fucks actively working to enslave humanity. There are no good guys. I puked in my mouth watching Tim Cook fawn over Trump. None of these people have a shred of decency. Fuck Apple. Fuck Google. Buy a paper map.
Better yet, help support open data initiatives like OpenStreetMaps or alternatives. No reason why maps can't be digital without ads.
load more comments
(2 replies)
load more comments
(1 replies)
I thought if people pay for things, like extreamly expensive Apple hardware, no ads can exist there? Must be confused or hearing things.
The business majors are about to learn an important lesson about open source.
Are they though? The top valued companies in the world are balls-deep in advertising and data collection.
load more comments
(1 replies)
load more comments
(3 replies)
If you're not paying, you're the product. If you're paying, you may still be the product.
Open source is the exception, and it's important to note that.
Now you may be thinking "well duh", but I've seen plenty of people, even fairly techy people, refuse to use good FOSS software because they think they're being monetised somehow and that because there's no ads, it must be from secret data theft.
load more comments
(4 replies)
load more comments
(1 replies)
Apple has really lost its identity.
Apple Silicon is really all that seperate them.
Eh. Even mediatek chips are getting to the point where they’re enough. Chip doesn't really matter anymore.
mediatek chips are garbage compared to qualcomm and apple. anytime i had to use a phone with a mediatek chip in it, or a chromebook, it was so bad.
load more comments
(1 replies)
I love how everyone is calling Apple users dumb here when Google has been doing the same thing for longer and both platforms let you install other map apps.
Yes, but apple has been charging double the price for their products on the basis of 'privacy' and 'premiumness'
So I'm actually a moderately tech-savvy individual. Software engineer, been using Linux since Karmic Koala (of course I've used many other distros since then, including Gentoo for a few years and now I'm using TumbleWeed on one computer and NixOS on another). I can even figure out how a printer works, believe it or not.
I just hate this whole "only stupid people who don't know about tech buy iPhones" rhetoric.
Samsung and Google have caught up in prices. I guess only Google is a tiny bit cheaper, Samsung is definitely right up there with Apple.
OnePlus was a good option if you wanted a cheaper flagship, but they both 1) ruined their OS and 2) went more expensive.
I actually bought an iPhone for 4 primary reasons:
-
Lightning port is easier to clean out than USB-C and I get a LOT of pocket lint for some reason.
-
Carplay used the entire screen in my S205 whereas Android Auto had the Android Auto logo on like 1/3 of the screen.
-
Back when I did it, Apple was the only one giving 5-6 years of major OS upgrades to their old phones and OnePlus only gave me 3, lagging far behind AOSP and the whole OxygenOS to ColorOS switch RUINED the phone for me. I did use a custom ROM for a while before that, but my bank app stopped working with that regardless of whatever I did, so I switched to stock ROM and then upgraded to ColorOS and the phone became nearly unusable. It was 3 years old (the model, anyway; the phone in question was 2 years old). Every single one of my iPhone using friends said that never has a major OS upgrade inconvenienced them in any way.
-
I just felt like I don't have time to play with custom ROMs and stuff anymore and since I don't, I might as well go with the option that works great out of the box, rather than the one that I can infinitely customize to my liking.
Now, this whole issue: It's not actually using user data AFAIK, so there are no privacy implications in this specific instance IMO. They just allow companies to pay to show up near the top in Maps. Not a move I'm a fan of, but I'm assuming Google has been doing this for a decade or 2 at least.
Does that mean I trust Apple? Fuck no. They're still a for-profit corporation. They still want to make as much profit as possible.
You aren't crazy. I've switched back and forth and currently have an iPhone, but currently primarily use a Thinkpad with a nice minimal Sway-based Alpine Linux desktop and a handful of Debian and 'BSDs kicking around on various machines. There are dozens of us!
Apple phones eeks out current Google options for privacy, security, minimalism, and service life, IMHO, but barely, and other people will argue the other way - I don't care. When there is a legit Linux phone option, I'll probably move then. I just try to use a phone as little as possible in my interaction with technology.
I don't actually regard them as a healthy form-factor for technology. A keyboard and 14' screen is more conducive to creating things or fulsomeness discussion in written form. Depending on the content, they are better for consuming text content (though eReaders are better for some content), and for multi-media consumption, large screens like TVs are better for the eyes.
load more comments
(1 replies)
Yeah, I'm an old software engineer who uses linux on all of my actual computers, but I still have an old iphone for doing phone shit.
In the real world, most outspoken anti-apple people aren't super techy and use some nightmare of corporate bloat phone they bought at the Verizon store.
Here on Lemmy though, you have a WAY higher proportion of people who are running devices they actually control.
load more comments
(2 replies)
im tech savvy, but i also want to participate in society, so i just buy the best budget android phone i can afford. thats it. all i use are lemmy, my bank, and my phone to pay, and then browse for research
load more comments
(18 replies)
load more comments
(3 replies)
I don’t think Apple is “premium” since 5-10 years. Google pixel and Samsung galaxy series caught up
load more comments
(4 replies)
Both sides of the duopoly are shit. Some variances in the type of shit, but still.
i just wish OSM was more complete… it’s fine for big cities, but when you live in small rural areas it’s practically useless. my village only has its roads mapped, nothing else.
(and yes i know you can edit the map. and that it’s the entire point of OSM. i know that. but it takes a ton of effort, and it’s an ongoing effort because cities change!)
OSM contributors, you are amazing and cherished and your work does not go unappreciated. i just wish there was more of us…
I know of a few rural places that have far more information on OSM than Google. Especially if those areas have a lot of hiking trails. Looking at the logs, it's typically a small handful of people adding things over significant time. It's worth keeping both on your device, and making edits on occasion. Rural areas change pretty slowly typically.
Funny thing, over here, OSM actually got weird rural stuff for a couple of rural towns I visited frequently about a year before Google Maps (and other proprietary services) was usable there. I think it had to do with some open-data drop from the government.
And seeing the services grow side by side also kind of gave away what their priorities were. Google: putting the local businesses and services on the map. OSM: document every single cool and convenient foot and bike trail.
Once you create a monetization team that puts ads in shit, they’re going to want to keep putting more ads in stuff. They’re all judged on how much better they do year over year.
Apple should’ve never created a team that sold ads on their platforms.
load more comments
(4 replies)
Bye bye Apple Maps hello CoMaps
Mac user for over 30 years, no problem - they make it easier and easier to say goodbye, which it's now time for, thanks to Apple adding on to Trump's mansion with a huge donation after the gold award earlier this year.
Steve Jobs wasn't sure Tim was right for the creative side of the Mac, but he knew the business side would keep humming. And now here we are, Apple the IBM of 90 years ago, so happy to help out the fascists.
load more comments
(1 replies)
That will inconvenience the Apple map user. I'm sure they're devastated by this news.
I don't use Apple, but honestly Apple is ruining everything, while Organic Maps and others are winning.
load more comments
(1 replies)
I’m done.
view more: next ›