this post was submitted on 19 Apr 2026
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CoMaps

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Heya,

I'm trying to go through Europe in Co-Maps. Particularly, I want to use offline maps to avoid aggressive roaming fees during one part of my route, as well as have a robust backup if online maps breaks. This seems to work great in preparation so far.

One thing I'd like to account for, is that driving through Switzerland is very expensive. I would rather want to detour slithly south through Austria, but I can't find a good way to communicate that to the app. I could try with some intermediary stops, but that seems like it would muddy the routing algorithm even more.

Is there a way to prefer/avoid areas or countries? Or a way to prepare a fitting route externally in advance, then reliably have it work in the app?

Thanks in advance.

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Under routing options in the settings there is a setting to avoid tolls. I have not traveled through Switzerland or Austria so I do not know if the roads you mention are tagged to work with that feature or not but you could test with a local road you know has tolls and then look at the roads you want to avoid in Switzerland on https://www.openstreetmap.org/ and see if they are tagged the same. I took a look and here is an example from the A12 near Bern: https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/4873847#map=14%2F46.94593%2F7.42161 It is marked as toll: yes which is the same as roads I know to have tolls that the feature avoids. Again, test for yourself but it looks like this might do it.

[–] guillem@aussie.zone 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Keep in mind that only (semi)motorways need Vignette in Switzerland, if you stick to secondary roads they are free:

Do You Need a Vignette to Enter Switzerland?

No — the vignette is not required to enter Switzerland, but it becomes mandatory as soon as you use a motorway. Technically, you can enter the country without a vignette if you stick to secondary roads.

However, be aware that many border crossings from France to Switzerland — such as Bardonnex, Vallorbe, or Basel Saint-Louis — lead directly onto motorway sections. In these cases, you must have the vignette before driving on those roads. (Source)

So if you are just cutting through briefly you might not need that detour.

[–] ramble81@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 day ago

Also some parts of Austria require vignettes as well. Specially the S16 tunnel in the western part of the country heading towards Switzerland. Luckily you can buy a day pass online. I managed to do it about 2 minutes before I hit the tolled part while driving!

[–] kamillz@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Perhapse it will avoid Switzerland if you don't download the map of the country, but I'm not sure^^

[–] nooch@lemmy.vg 3 points 1 day ago

For me it finds a route and asks me to download the maps of the route.

[–] Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 2 points 1 day ago

That's pretty creative thinking.

[–] Nomad -3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Just download all the maps beforehand and stay offline. Also there are no roaming costs EU wide anymore.

[–] frischkaesbagett@feddit.org 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

That is no answer to the original post

[–] BandanaBug@piefed.social 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Also, Switzerland is not EU

[–] Nomad 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

In respect to this issue it is. There is no roaming cost in Switzerland either. The Swiss pick and choose freely what they share in the EU laws.

[–] nooch@lemmy.vg 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Not sure about that, I think it depends on the country. German and Austrian SIMs for sure, I think other EU countries still get charged.

[–] Nomad 1 points 1 day ago

My bad I looked it up. I never payed roaming when I visited Switzerland, but that seems to be a specific exemption to my provider specifically. Looks like you generally pay roaming fees in Switzerland, even from Germany.