OSM provides a map editable by everyone; just like the web-based encyclopedia, Wikipedia.
Using a community edited map allows one to correct isses they encounter. Combined with the monthly turn around, these edits are added for navigation quickly.
One can also utilize features to contribute back to OSM. This includes reporting a bug or adding a POI. This feature doesn't require an internet connection as the points can be uploaded latter upon request.
Lane guidance can assist in deciding if one should stay in the right or left lanes. OsmAnd provides detailed information on the number of lanes and which are valid for your chosen destination; based on the data available it may show too many or too few lanes.
Sometimes one needs more than just navigation, they have a need to view a map or specify a specific route. OsmAnd provides a very nice, detailed map. This can be good for seeing what is around you or showing a place you are talking about to a friend.
It also provides a means to add waypoints on the map which can be used to dictate a specific route (not simple enough to do routinely).
Utilizing the community driven OpenStreetMap data has allowed for monthly publishing of new maps that the user can use. Though that doesn't necessarily mean the map data has changed.
Through the use of an additional plugin OsmAnd Maps & Navigation is able to utilize contour lines on its maps which helps view the landscape and terrain.
It can take some time for an area to be rendered. This tends not to be a problem during navigation since only a small area must be rendered as the map moves, and this area isn't immediately needed; though likely a bigger issue with smaller screens.
Due to the slow rendering (already mentioned) it is near impossible to scroll through OsmAnd's maps. You move the map only slightly and it takes ages to redraw all vector layers.
This is a limitation of OSM's data, but it is unreliable for locating an address while offline. Even with internet it doesn't appear that it can locate most addresses.
This helps in optimizing route calculations based on vehicle's maximum speed or a country's maximum speed limits, typical driving speeds, width and height of the vehicle and so on.
This helps in avoiding often congested main roads and in casually discovering alternative routes, sometimes dirt roads as well, which are commonly far less-travelled in most places. Odd place for this option though, should be near the section where you can select which types of roads to avoid instead.
Though not generally a problem, since OsmAnd+ favours TTS-based voice prompts it does advertise also supporting recorded voice prompts. However they cannot be downloaded or selected anywhere in the app, so you'll end up with awkward pronunciation, depending on your device's TTS engine, especially when setting your language to English in a non-English speaking area. Disabling street names will help as a limited workaround, but for those looking for clear and well-pronounced instructions, it's better to look elsewhere.
The use of OSM also has the drawback of many places not getting the attention needed for updates. Depending on the geographic location OSM may have the most detailed maps or the most bare/outdated map.
Users without a data connection can still use the app for turn by turn directions, which is great for those that travel or use a device that does not have a cellular data connection.
MAPS.ME uses data from OpenStreetMap, meaning the data retrieved from that service is a community-based map. Anyone can freely edit and contribute to the map, a map concept that is similar to Wikipedia.
Click on the map and you will have the option to Bookmark, Route From, Route To. Having selected Bookmark simply offers to edit it, e.g. give it a different name.
The use of OSM also has the drawback of many places not getting the attention needed for updates. Depending on the geographic location OSM may have the most detailed maps or the most bare/outdated map.
As soon as you select a destination, the map seems to zoom to this point - and then turns black (or occasionally either white or colorfully pixelated). Only option is to stop maps-me entirely (and lose the poi).
Lane guidance is very helpful in large urban cities or on the interstate, it's easy to feel lost and miss a turn without lane guidance. It is available on iOS, but not on Android.
Points of Interest tend to not to be as up to date as other online apps are. Often another app has to be used in order to look for interesting places, or connect to a hotspot.
App updates are released slower than the competition. Bug fixes and performance improvements are released regularly, but new features are released slowly.
As of Spring 2017, this app doesn't allow you to exit without being nagged to install other apps. If you select "No thanks", you somehow get directed to a Google search page, which is incredibly frustrating. It's acceptable to have a fairly unobtrusive ad at the bottom of a navigation map, but it's definitely a deterrent if every time you exit the app you have to go through a series of annoying screens or take the risk of making a mistake and installing something you actually don't want.
Sygic's interface is tailored to navigation. While viewing maps in 2D is possible, it populates the map with a bunch of POI icons which detract from street names. The biggest issue is how easy it is to select something or start navigation when zooming in/out.
Still usable for map viewing though.
Even the newest maps seem outdated and have many mistakes or inaccuracies. Entire ranges of house numbers are absent in some streets, 3d buildings are only present in some segments.
GPS Navigation & Maps Sygic offers an in app purchase to add on a Heads Up Display for the app. This works for nighttime driving by placing ones device up by the windshield and the device will reflect all information in the windshield for a convenient hands free experience that is on the level of where ones eyes already are.
GPS Navigation & Maps Sygic provides lane guidance as a feature for safe lane maneuvering while driving which is great especially when on a highway of unknown locations being one never knows exactly what lanes to be in when merging or taking exits.
After a Play Store update it is important to run the app once to download all the offline data again, otherwise it will not be usable when no external data is available. This is not only time consuming but inconvenient for those that may be in a hurry.
GPS Navigation & Maps Sygic provides a very detailed 3D world during navigation, with elevated hills and even city buildings which makes for a more realistic view of where one is in comparison to their surroundings.
Utilizes commercial data for its maps that are supplied by TomTom Maps. While not strictly better it can have more up-to-date map data than OSM. This is also the reason for the the good address data.
Maps and speed limit information very much outdated and inaccurate!!! Also, voice guidance coming much later than the need to do the manoeuvres. Just waste of money!!!
Even newest maps seem outdated and have many mistakes or inaccuracies. Entire ranges of house numbers are absent in some streets; 3d buildings are only present in some segments.
Internet connection is not needed in order to navigate, maps and directions can be downloaded beforehand when one knows there will be no data connection for them to use.
TomTom are notoriously slow on the development of the app, seemingly not interested in staying ahead of its competition. As a result, there has been very little in the way of improvements with the exception of map updates.
When routing you can see the next speed limit traffic sign displayed, so you can better estimate when to release the right pedal to drive more efficiently.
When intentionally driving a different than the suggested street, it tries a long time to get you back onto the initially suggested route though alternatives would be faster and shorter.
Navmii GPS World (Navfree) uses OSM (OpenStreetMap) data which means it stores the maps on local storage so the user can use the app offline with zero data usage. This is great for those that need to use a navigation app but will have no data connection.
Navmii GPS World (Navfree) has voice guided navigation for its maps, even offline so users do not need to mess around with the app while driving, which is safer than having to constantly look at ones device.
Offline access has been updated to include search and driving directions in areas that have been downloaded for offline access. However, transit and walking directions are unavailable. The biggest size for any single offline area is 120,000 square kilometers, however, multiple areas can be saved. Offline access isn't available in some regions, however.
Google Maps can now search for and add a route for a second location on the way to the primary location that you are going to and have already routed. Note that it cannot do a third or true multi routing like the desktop webapp can.
You can download offline data per city or parts of cities if you live in an especially large city, but not for states or countries. Points of Interests are generally more relevant and current than the typical stand alone GPS unit.
Nearby my house, there is major road construction in progress. Apple maps didn’t show this at all, but google maps did. There was also a new, small road that was finished around 3 days ago. Google maps shows this road. Apple maps still hasn’t shown the major construction.
Recent updates have made it so you can label a place instead of being stuck with some address or GPS coordinate and forgetting what it represents. Saved places show as stars and are all on one layer as long as you're logged in. There is also the ability to create maps (parallel to groups) for things you might not want to see or have show up all the time whenever you're using google maps from day to day.
This feature is highly helpful for planning, even if you're a person who likes to wing it.
For some reason Google maps are terrible in South America - much worse than OSM maps. Trying to navigate in Argentina from Buenos Aires to Mendoza, it does not work that well. The logical route would be RN7 all the way but Google has gaps in it so it suggests long detours - which aren't necessary.
Google Maps offline maps update automatically in the background. Not a problem if you're using a sim card in your phone, but if you connect to a pre-paid hotspot that the phone recognizes and connects to as a wifi device you risk burning through your data allotment. The offline maps can be set to update manually, but this is not default behavior.
Two negatives about this feature is you have to be online to be able to save a place, but it is stored off line once google map gets on the net and syncs. The other negative is there is no visible label for saved places, you have to click on stars to see the label for them.
It's not immediately apparent how to change the language of the maps (of if this is even possible). Thus, it can be troubling/useless if the maps are in the local script (e.g. Korean) and the directions or address someone is looking for is provided in romanized words (or vice versa).
If you're going where the Internet is slow, mobile data is expensive, or you can't get online, you can save an area from Google Maps to your phone or tablet and use it when you're offline.
Despite having many hidden features, most of them are hidden deep into settings menus or illogical side-menus behind buttons without any explanation. Changing between day and night view usually works automatically, but changing them manually takes 4 or 5 button presses.
Offline GPS will tell you when you have left your tour (and approximately what direction it is in), but cannot re-route without internet connection. Which can be inconvenient for those that deviate or get lost.
Komoot is geared towards those that do outdoor sports such as hiking or cycling by displaying common known trails as well as user created ones that are shared on the platform.
Includes free trial for ActiveTraffic data, giving you fastest routes taking into account traffic data which can help save time when driving at high traffic times.
Premium features unlock unlimited voice navigation and ActiveTraffic can cost quite a lot at $29.99 when compared to other premium map/navigation apps.
Users can download map packs for different regions along with points of interest to allow for easy navigation when in an area without data or using a device that does not have a cellular data connection such as a tablet.
This was not heavily promoted by them, but it just shows the level of awareness these guys have. It's a small feature, developed in partnership with Bosch, that will warn you if a driver is coming your way on the wrong side of the road.
It is not possible to locate an address if the device is unable to receive external data. This really limits the use of this app as an offline navigator as there is no way to access an address when offline.
GPS Navigation & Maps - Scout offers live traffic navigation as well as speedtrap warnings so users can avoid time wasting areas in town as to not be late for the things they are doing.
You can navigate on any image of a map, even a hand-drawn map, real estate survey map, or aerial photo taken from an angle, by pinning important features on the image to identical features on a regular GPS-aligned map.
When you take a photo with the Camera app, with GPS metadata tags turned on, and it saves in the DCIM folder, Maprika will show a camera icon at the location of the photo.
After creating a custom map, you can upload it to the server, so that it's usable by others without duplicating effort. There are currently ~15,000 maps available.
It can only navigate one image at a time, so if you save an online map for offline use, it will only ever display that particular zoom level, you cannot zoom in or out to see more detail or wider view.
Sometimes it will say "Google Satellite" for instance, but is actually showing a regular "Google Road" map, and you have to change it twice to get it to actually change.
Photos have to be in a particular folder to show up as icons on the map. If you have your camera app save to a different folder, they won't be noticed by Maprika.
The maps take up several GB of space, and cannot be stored on SD, so it is easily the largest app on the phone and is frustrating to deal with. Only with a rooted phone can you use Apps2SD or the like to store the maps on SD and free up internal storage space.
Searching for map files is very frustrating as the map search only shows the center point of each map as a pin, so you can't see whether the map includes a point you're interested in, and since there are usually many historical maps of the same location, they produce many pins appearing on top of each other. You have to download each one and open it in order to see what it will look like, rather than previewing them in the live display. Good overview maps will appear as pins in random locations, while there will be tons of topo map tiles everywhere else
It supports USGS topo maps, for instance, but if you walk off the edge of one, you have to manually load the adjacent map, which is a hassle. It would be nice if, like other apps, you could select "USGS topo" as the map source, and it would automatically show whichever specific map your location is currently near the middle of (since the USGS maps have margins and legends, etc.)
Many airports and large buildings have an icon on them which, when tapped, opens up a 3D view of the floor plan with labelled locations of services, shops & transport etc. Includes an index for selecting each level of the building.
Excellent companion app allows navigation from your paired Samsung Gear S3 smartwatch. Has clear turn-by-turn instructions, vibration alerts at intersections, and zoomable location map (using rotating bezel). (Smartwatch app works with phone app and is not standalone).
Has train, ferry, bus etc. routes and schedules for many cities. The routes are overlaid on actual maps (spatially correct, vs the typical simplified diagrams of public transport networks) which I find reassuring and useful when exploring new locations. Also shows the schedules for next few services for any given station/stop. I'm not sure how accurate the schedules are though - they were incomplete for the small town where I live, but seemed more complete for major cities.
Map downloads are huge in size, ranging from a few hundred megabytes, to a couple of gigabytes, depending on the size of the map being downloaded. Luckily, the app can be set to store them on external SD memory.
An update was released on July 27th, 2016 and suffers from bugs as offline navigation features are no longer working. You are also required to update the application when starting it, which effectively breaks offline navigation.
The advertisements usually are shown when the vehicle is at rest, and they cover the entire screen. There is no way to get rid of them, it's strictly a free ad supported app.
Each Waze user has the ability to report traffic and road information changes as well as accidents, road closures, police locations and other alerts in real-time. This information is then displayed on the map to benefit other drivers and used to recalculate the optimal route.