Mastodawn

✧✦Catherine✦✧

i checked up on OsmAnd and apparently they're doing some pretty advanced stuff for offline route calculation now! beyond A* https://osmand.net/blog/fast-routing/

OsmAnd's Faster Offline Navigation | OsmAnd

Offline navigation is a lifeline for travelers, adventurers, and everyday commuters. We demand speed, accuracy, and the flexibility to tailor routes to our specific needs. For years, OsmAnd has championed powerful, feature-rich offline maps that fit in your pocket. But as maps grew more detailed and user demands for complex routing increased, our trusty A algorithm, despite its flexibility, started hitting a performance wall. How could we deliver a 100x speed boost without bloating map sizes or sacrificing the deep customization our users love?

@whitequark A++++++++ would recommend routing

@whitequark I've always wondered how they figured that route out.

sebsauvage Feb 26

@whitequark
Your mileage may vary.
I used to be a *huge* fan of OsmAnd. But in recent years I found that the route calculation algorithm had gone bad. Like... really bad.
All other offline GPS applications I tried got me good routes, OsmAnd was still suggesting silly things. To the point I stopped using OsmAnd for navigation. 🤷‍♂️

Maybe I'll try the newer versions.

Soblow Xaselgio

@sebsauvage @whitequark Have you tried BRouter for route calculation in OSMAnd?
I use it but I'm not that satisfied with the results. It's way faster than OSMAnd though.

BRouter | OsmAnd

Overview

sebsauvage Feb 26

@Soblow
I haven't. Thanks for the recommandation.
@whitequark

@sebsauvage @whitequark i stopped using it because the renderer became slow as fuck, and it completely crashed after having it open for a minute. Maybe that has gotten better, too?

CoMaps is pretty snappy, but long distance routing is slow.

sebsauvage Feb 26

@clonejo
OmsAnd now has an OpenGL renderer (way better than the old one), but OsmAnd still uses a lot CPU though (which can be a problem in summer : I had a warning from Android saying my phone was overheating and I had to stop OsmAnd).
@whitequark

40796c19 Feb 26

@whitequark am i wrong in feeling like this article was written by an llm
the new routing looks super cool but the writing feels very off

✧✦Catherine✦✧Feb 26

@40796c19 yeah actually it does read kinda like that

@whitequark Damn, I dropped it years ago because routing was so slow. Maybe I need to give it another try!

Especially since the alternative I picked (Organic Maps) has faster routing but is worse in most other regards.

@whitequark Why is the blog post giving AI though

> OsmAnd's HH-Routing is more than just an algorithm; it's a testament to innovative problem-solving.

✧✦Catherine✦✧Feb 26

@muvlon yeah it's slop :(

@whitequark I mean there is genuinely interesting technical infos in there too but it's tarnished by this annoying fluff. Companies should be brave enough to let their engineers rawdog writing the tech blogs in broken english

✧✦Catherine✦✧Feb 26

@muvlon yeah that's what I meant, there's slop all over the blog post. probably ran through an LLM to "proofread" it or whatever

@whitequark Oh that explains why route calculation feels a lot quicker now than it had in the past! I wasn't sure whether I was imagining it, that's so neat that OsmAnd just keeps on improving.