ihatehn

The issue is that we change our map file "format" with nearly every release, and handling that without crashing is already a job. For example if we add, say, bomb shelters to the map, an older app using that newer data will have access to it but no idea how to render it, which can cause problems (crashing, errors, blanks, etc.) So we have very specific versioning on a per-map-release / app-release basis, and that's just our project. We've already diverged from Organic Maps and even moreso from the (corporate, closed) Maps.me and living on a totally different data format planet from OsmAnd and Magic Earth. So it's a nice idea but extremely hard in practice.

We already do local bookmark backup, and use KML natively I think. It just doesn't sync, resolving sync conflicts is hard.

The problem with gamification is it implies tracking and moderation so it's often a thin "fun" veneer over pervasive corporate tracking/surveillance

#1 is a common request and possible future improvement, #2 is coming soon with TraffXML (taking in live traffic, not necessarily contributing it back)

CoMaps lets you record a route, though it's somewhat limited

We're working on the routing UI! It's a common hangup.

We tell our users that OsmAnd is great if you want a mapping swiss army knife in your pocket: it does a little bit of everything, for power users. It has plugins and customizability.

CoMaps' mission is to be an accessible usable privacy-first FOSS map app for the entire world (average people) and so we always have our eye on the typical expected user experience and what obstacles remain between them and uninstalling those non-FOSS privacy-invading apps, but we're not going down the rabbit hole of adding all sorts of niche powerful features: OsmAnd already does that very well, and the world doesn't need two OsmAnds.

I've been editing OSM since 2015 and contributing to FOSS OSM apps for about half that, there have been conflicts or special cases in the past but edits on StreetComplete, OsmAnd, Organic Maps, and CoMaps all go live without any mandatory review. There's a "request review" checkbox on OSM changesets, but it's somewhat rare to actually get a review and the edit is live in the meantime

Every version of Organic Maps and CoMaps (and probably to some extent OsmAnd) use slightly different formats of maps; consider a new feature to support park bench backrests/colors/materials. That info likely wouldn't have been in the map files before for efficiency, and now it needs to be. But any given other app may not have that feature at all, and instead decides to save space and bandwidth by compressing the files instead. And a third app might improve performance on old devices by preprocessing routes and storing them in a new format in the map data.

So you can see the work of keeping map files cross-compatible would either hamper the release of new features, or take a bunch of work, all to save a few hundred MB on people's phones

A.T. is extremely trail oriented including user-submitted routes and reviews, but it may miss some less popular raw OSM-based paths. OSM based apps like OsmAnd and CoMaps just display all the data neutrally, such might be better for people who want to see raw reality and make their own route.

The Telegram/Matrix channel had the info... for minutes at a time before the owners deleted it :X

80% of OM/CM search issues are just lacking data in OSM

OM and CoMaps should also work, though you might need to wait awhile for a GPS fix and be near a window. Google's main hiccup will be an internet connection for the maps.

I think Uber might use OSM, but might not update very often, or might use different logic than other apps