I can’t remember where I saw it, but I feel like today is a good time to revisit the concept of “Vegan + bacon”.
People often avoid making small positive changes because they get caught up in trying to go all the way. For example, “I could never go vegan. I love bacon too much”.
So then go vegan plus bacon. Or vegetarian plus bacon. Or just switch to oat milk and eat more vegetables. Whatever small change you can make is good
Maybe you can’t buy everything local. What one thing can you start buying local? Can you switch from Starbucks to the local coffee shop? Can you switch from Petco to the local pet feed store? Can you switch from Dominoes to a local pizza place?
Maybe you can’t completely de-Google or de-Apple or de-Amazon your life. Can you switch one thing? Can you use DuckDuckGo? Move your passwords to Bitwarden? Open a Fastmail account?
@danirabbit
I've been degoogling for several years. First was duckduckgo, then I started using my own domain for email. Then I moved that email domain off of Google's servers. Then I canceled my youtube subscription. Recently I canceled my YouTube Music subscription in favor of #Qobuz.
I still use Android. I still use Google maps. I still watch YouTube videos. I maintain my Gmail account for legacy reasons. But I'm using Google much less and they no longer directly receive any of my money.
@bruce @danirabbit Great!
If you are trying to get off Google Maps, can I recommend @organicmaps or @CoMaps
I use Organic Maps daily on Android, and it's great. You can download parts (or all) of your country so it works offline.
If there are bits missing or changed, I can tag them and upload changes to OpenStreetMap (where the data comes from).
I think it's more detailed than Google Maps these days, certainly for European countries.
The only time I use Google Maps is when someone sends me a Google Maps link (😡), but there's even an app for that: https://f-droid.org/packages/page.ooooo.geoshare/ 🥳 (it's installed, but I haven't really used it much yet).
@chewie @danirabbit @organicmaps @CoMaps
One of the most essential features in Google Maps is the place reviews. I find them extremely helpful in gathering information about the shipping and receiving offices I visit as part of my job.
So far, I haven't found a good replacement. This will likely remain true so long as Google maintains its dominance in this space.
@chewie @bruce @danirabbit @organicmaps @CoMaps
Google maps is the only one which will return the location of an exact street address.
All the others just show you the street.
So if I search for 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and it's a long street I don't know exactly where that is.
I'm happy to be wrong about this. Tell me one of the non Google maps does this for me.
@notyourfanboy @chewie @danirabbit @organicmaps @CoMaps
OpenStreetMaps usually does a good job at address resolution for me. They are less good at knowing what businesses may exist at a given address, though they seem to be getting better at that, too. If you are on Android, look for the OSM+ app.
@notyourfanboy @bruce @danirabbit @organicmaps @CoMaps it looks like it works on https://openstreetmap.org too
Of course, this only works if someone has been round and mapped it :)
Some countries have open licences for their map data so there have been bulk imports, but others have been less helpful.
For example, post codes in the UK are "owned" by the Post Office and you used to need a licence to use them (I think that has changed now), so a lot of UK addresses have missing postcodes.
I try and add them when possible, as they are quite useful, and there are still a lot missing :(
Danielle Foré
Bruce Heerssen 
Chewie
fan boy 🪭