spiritedpauseMagic Earth: Privacy friendly maps with turn-by-turn navigation, OpenStreetMap, Crowd-Sourced Traffic, 3D maps, Satellite maps, Offline maps and Transit.
poorsocialskillsDoesn’t seem to be available for iOS in the US App Store.
Can confirm, got a pop up saying same just now.
Ah that’s strange, I wonder why that is. I installed it from the app store a while back before it was removed, which is why I still have it on my phone. Not sure why they did that.
Apple has a competing Map app, just sayin’.
Meh, if that were the reason Google Maps would also be unavailable
Size matters.
Besides, Apple and Google conspi….rrr…collaborate on other projects and standards; can’t have an app queering that.
Fair point, and made me laugh
HeartyBeastIt’s on the UK iOS store
If that was actually the reason, Apple wouldn’t have allowed OsmAnd Maps, Maps.me, etc. and yet they’re in the US app store.
ForestOrcaI tried switching my VPN to Netherlands, but still couldn't access ME.
It might be “privacy” focused, but it’s not open source
MagnorDo we have any indication they are trustworthy?
We have an indication they aren’t — they make claims that are demonstrably untrue.
subignitionCould you elaborate, please?
The only other response of yours in the thread is that it's not available in Canada, which doesn't seem to contradict any of the claims in the thread title?
I don’t see a single thing that’s claims they are Open Sourced. Not sure how you or OP are coming to that conclusion.
They use open street maps and crowd source the traffic pattern just like the rest of the map apps.
Putting those together doesn’t mean they claimed to be open sourced.
ya. I was confused at first because i went to try it out but no f-droid or any other way of getting it?
I didn’t say they were OSS (though I agree that it would be much better if it was), and I actually had no idea it wasn’t available in the US app store, since I installed it a while back when it still was. Not sure what’s going on there.
RickyRigatoniThen it’s a good thing it was posted to the privacy community and not the open source community.
Not available (currently) in Canada.
RandomStickmanSad, I was excited to try it out
OminousOrangeWorks just fine for me?
So what’s the catch? Not sure if the answer in the FAQ really answers the question why it’s free. “Magic Earth is free for all our end-users but we also have a paid Magic Earth SDK for business partners. For instance Selectric.de (a supplier for navigation solutions for ambulances and fire trucks), Smarter AI (developing ADAS systems) or Absolute Cycling (using the platform on bicycles).”
Don’t know but guessing, they are using open street maps so they can’t charge for it. Not sure as I have not looked into the licensing of it but assuming something like that.
dannoffsI assume the user data like traffic and OSM contributions adds value to their paid SDK.
clgohNo web interface?
FYI, from the FAQ:
Why is Magic Earth free? What is the business model?
Magic Earth is free for all our end-users but we also have a paid Magic Earth SDK for business partners. For instance Selectric.de (a supplier for navigation solutions for ambulances and fire trucks), Smarter AI (developing ADAS systems) or Absolute Cycling (using the platform on bicycles). For more info on the SDK, you can check magiclane.com.
This might be Europe only. Blocked in US App Store
It’s not, I installed it in the U.S. just fine.
When and where
You must be android or something since it’s not available in iOS App Store in USA
It was definitely available in the US App Store earlier this year because I have it installed on both of my iOS devices. I can’t find any info as to when and why it was removed.
Seems to be in the UK iOS store
Some perspective from a user who’s been on Magic Earth for well over a year:
- It works very well. With a few quirks, it’s like 90-95% as useful as Google Maps for a majority of personas
- It’s a mature app, finds most addresses (with possible exception of recent changes like a business moving)
- Does surprisingly well with being current on traffic conditions
- While not FOSS, they seem to be open about what they sell of your information and it’s in aggregate, so I’m much less worried about location data being tied to other online dossiers I’ve left in my digital paper trail.
I found that Organic Maps and OsmAnd+ just couldn’t cut it at all for finding addresses, routing wasn’t super great (or intuitive), and otherwise rated very low on family acceptance as a replacement for Google Maps. I used Acastus Photon for addresses and frankly it’s not that much better and the workflow was janky and pretty useless when you want to plot route waypoints. This was the bridge between fully de-googling and having a livable acceptance factor. So far I haven’t seen them doing anything they don’t claim (not getting in trouble privacy-wise), so I’m good.
I would say “privacy friendly” is accurate in the title - but this is not FOSS. Even so for those looking to de-google without losing utility, I recommend it and am glad it exists.
Blaze (he/him)Thank you for your feedback
I agree completely with your review of Magic Earth. I will say that I keep some maps on my phone in Organic Maps as well. They are easier for me to follow when hiking on forest trails. When we went trailblazing on snowshoes, it made finding our way back to the main route simple.
somehow i got stuck on heads up display, and i cannot figure out how to disable it now!
claymoreSettings > Navigation > Car > Head-up Display
Legend thanks!
Maybe I’m misunderstanding it, but as far as I see it, OsmAnd’s non-free assets include the entire UI (layout + icons).
Since the UI of an Android app is an essential part, I don’t consider OsmAnd to be opensource.
Some icons of the undergrounds have different license. Read your first link carefully. And you link the source of the ui, or you don’t consider png files as “source”?
If it wouldn’t be foss, it couldn’t be built by the f-droid build system, it can only build foss projects
FOSS Is FunThe license contains the following clause:
- UI Design and UX work, such as layout and icons, are covered by CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0
- github.com/osmandapp/Osmand/tree/master/…/res and others Publishing applications using the OsmAnd UI/UX code to Google Play, Amazon Market, or Apple Store must be done with written permission.
That’s why I linked the folder Osmand/tree/master/OsmAnd/res. It contains icons and XML files, which are used to describe the UI.
CC-BY-NC-ND is a non-free license. It forbids commercial redistribution and it doesn’t allow any modification of the files. OsmAnd further restricts what you can do, as it does not allow redistribution in the most popular app stores without permission.
If it wouldn’t be foss, it couldn’t be built by the f-droid build system, it can only build foss projects
The source files are publicly available, so F-Droid can use them to build the app, but the license restricts what you can do with these files.
F-Droid does not sell the app (non-commercial clause), is not modifying it (non-derivative clause) and is not listed as one of the restricted app stores, so it can distribute the app. But this does not make the app free and open-source software.
The license contains the following clause:
- UI Design and UX work, such as layout and icons, are covered by CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0
- github.com/osmandapp/Osmand/tree/master/…/res and others Publishing applications using the OsmAnd UI/UX code to Google Play, Amazon Market, or Apple Store must be done with written permission.
That’s why I linked the folder Osmand/tree/master/OsmAnd/res. It contains icons and XML files, which are used to describe the UI.
CC-BY-NC-ND is a non-free license. It forbids commercial redistribution and it doesn’t allow any modification of the files. OsmAnd further restricts what you can do, as it does not allow redistribution in the most popular app stores without permission.
If it wouldn’t be foss, it couldn’t be built by the f-droid build system, it can only build foss projects
The source files are publicly available, so F-Droid can use them to build the app, but the license restricts what you can do with these files.
F-Droid does not sell the app (non-commercial clause), is not modifying it (non-derivative clause) and is not listed as one of the restricted app stores, so it can distribute the app. But this does not make the app free and open-source software.
Crowd sourced is the worst. When ease was new and was crowd sourced it would always have me make a right onto a side street, take an immediate left and then another right to continue on the same street I was already on.
I really hope that isn’t what they mean my crowd sourced.
PeachManLol Google Maps did that shit to me literally yesterday, it happens all the time.
I’ve seen that happen in both Google Maps and OpenStreetMaps…
But the nice thing about something crowdsourced like OpenStreetMaps, is that I can just hop on their editor and fix the street that is broken.
Would not addition people that continue to do the same thing override your fix?
When a piece of road is properly connected, there’s very little reason for others to go and disconnect it again.
There’s also an approval system, so changes made has to be reviewed by others, and you have comments to explain why and what you did.
Disconnected roads like the one OP mentions happens by accident, not by intention.
All the fixes I have put into OpenStreetMaps has stayed there.
Thanks for the detailed explanation as I was really curious.
Just get OrganicMaps
Organic routing just isn’t very good sadly. If it were I’d use it
I haven’t noticed a difference yet. It does perform way better though
LilDestructiveSheepJust downloaded and happy. Thanks for the recommendation :)
Does it work with Android auto?
Project seems dubious based on other comments but I’ve yet to find anything that’s good and respects privacy while also being on Android auto.
It does yeah, the UI is very similar to Google Maps
It’s a good choice if using GrapheneOS. I had used OSMAnd before and was surprised when it had no voice for navigation because Graphene has no TTS service by default and the options I found were not great. Honestly TTS was one of the few things I missed from stock Android.
Android Auto won’t work either, but my cars just a little too old for that, so no loss for me.
How to make voice navigation works on magic earth with graphene os? I tinkered a bit and wasnt able to make it work
I have GrapheneOS and recently tested Magic Earth and Organic Mapsss, in my rural area around town. For me, MagicEarth audio worked fine, but Organic Maps was mute…
Magic Earth found specific street addresses better than Organic Maps/OSM, but couldnt list street names, just like OSM.
AFAIK, this is because Graphene prevents the downloading of the Google voice modules that have access to local street names. I could be wrong on this.
TLDR; You can’t. GrapheneOS prevents it because Google owns the voice modiles including the specific street names and most privacy invading maps software tracks your location in order to vocalize the application/street names.
It seems Like it doesnt work without gapps. I am in LineageOS without gapps, so Organic Maps wins.
It works perfectly fine without any GApps. I’ve used it for months with no issues.