Navigating with OpenStreetMap
I don't use Free Software exclusively but I do try to avoid non-free crap as much as I can. As a result, I don't have the Android PlayStore or Google Maps on my phone. I normally rely on my friends for navigation (they have Google Maps) whenever OpenStreetMaps (OSM) doesn't have the places I'm looking for, but I think I found a combination that allows me to rely (almost) exclusively on OSM!
OSM isn't widely adopted in India, so not all shops and other places of interests are marked in it. But Google Maps has just about every location charted. When I don't have friends around, I've used the web version of Google Maps on the phone with temporary location privileges. The web version, thankfully, is limited (at least on Fennec): it doesn't update movement. So out of frustration, I tried sharing the Google Maps location URI to UntrackdMe and open it with OSMAnd. And guess what? IT WORKS!
- Search places on the web version of Google Maps
- Translate Google Maps URL to OSM URL using UntrackME
- Open it via OSMAnd
Navigating with OSM isn't as flashy as Google Maps, it doesn't have live traffic updates but it gets the job done. The Android app is flawless, it redirects when you take a different route, can work with offline maps and has voice announcements.
The only downside of OSM, at least personally, is that it is not very good at calculating long-distance routes (>150 km). But I mostly use it for running errands, so it doesn't bother me as much :)