Hey all! I’m wondering if someone can help me pick between these two apps. They seem to be the most commonly recommended Android front-ends for OpenStreetMaps, but I’m wondering what the pros/cons/differences are. Thanks in advance!
(I haven’t used osmand in a minute)
Osmand has a buttload of features but the UI is kinda complicated, whereas OrganicMaps has a simple UI but less features.
If you want car navigation I’d recommend MagicEarth because it has traffic info
https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Magic_Earth
It’s proprietary.
For some people, not getting stuck in traffic is worth using proprietary software.
Are there any FOSS navigation apps with (paid?) traffic info?
Proprietary is not some evil demon. Sure open source is better, but it’s just one bullet point in a pro/con table.
It kind is, though. Proprietary doesn’t mean paid; I’ll pay for OSS apps. Proprietary means they won’t release the source code, and this is bad for a whole bunch of reasons. But the reason that gets my goat is that it’s almost guaranteed that proprietary app was developed with open source tools, and probably uses at least some open source code. I fucking hate hypocrites.
Thanks, that’s a nice and concise summary!
Where does MagicEarth get its traffic data from? Also is it FOSS? I couldn’t find much about it.
Big pro for Organic Maps is rendering speed. So smooth and perfect…
Everything else is on the OsmAnd side. It’s loaded with features, everything you may want and more. But rendering lag is so annoying that I’m using Organic by default.
I thinl they are intended for very different kind of users and use cases: Organic Maps is a simple and traightforward navigtaion app. It does not do much, but does it very well. OsmAnd is a feature-rich app for power users who want to tinker and customize.
I have both on my phone :)
OSMand is a much more powerful tool even with no plugins and it’s a mature app you can count on.
On the other hand Organic Maps has less features, which means a much simpler interface and much better performance
Performance of OSMand is actually great on mid-level SOCs I usually get. Anything with snapdragon 6xx or more and performance is a non-issue for me, especially since it has a new opengl2 renderer. Also, it uses very, very little battery navigating me with voice (so screen off) along a pre-defined GPX on locally downloaded maps in airplane mode. And the simplicity of the interface is a downside once you spend a few hours tinkering with OSMand and get used to all it can do.
I’ll go ahead and throw another option out there. Magic Earth. I would use OsmAnd or Organic Maps more often but neither support routing with public transport other than the train.
