Google Maps al­tern­at­ives: What map services are there?

Open­Street­Map, has been around since 2004 and is probably one of the best known Google Maps al­tern­at­ives. The nav­ig­a­tion app uses an “open data” concept, whereby users enter map data them­selves, col­lab­or­at­ing to create as detailed a world map as possible. This data is free for everyone to use since it is run under the Open Database License. This means that it can be reused without re­stric­tions – unlike Google Maps, which is governed by American Cor­por­a­tion licensing terms.

Open­Street­Map can be used on a browser, and also has apps for Android and iOS. You can easily print maps or share them with your friends and the app stores images and data like house numbers, or the number of floors in the building to make the map as com­pre­hens­ible as possible. Private data is not part of the project framework and will not be saved. Private lands and any private ped­es­tri­an pathways, lawns or driveways that are connected to them are not visible. The route planner (provided for Europe through the related Open­RouteSer­vice project) dis­tin­guishes between different types of motorised vehicles, cyclists, ped­es­tri­ans, and even wheel­chair users.

The project is entirely funded through donations and does not require ad­vert­ising. Donations are collected at “mapping parties” to help finance new projects and the col­lec­tion of other map data. Since the maps are freely usable, numerous other map apps make use of it as a resource. To use the app offline, you need to download the maps, which requires a sig­ni­fic­ant amount of storage space.

Maps.me is one of the free apps that make use of Open­Street­Map’s material. If enough space is available on the device, the app is auto­mat­ic­ally stored offline so that it can be retrieved at any time without consuming any data. In addition, the data is com­pressed as much as possible so that the app requires less storage space. 

The Maps.me app is popular among users because it’s very detail-oriented and includes a few features missing from Google Maps. Some details include having various well-thought out cat­egor­ies for en­ter­tain­ment, hotels, res­taur­ants, and food. If you select the category “Food” for example, along with what kind of cuisine you’re looking for, the app will bring up relevant results in your area.

A dis­ad­vant­age of this nav­ig­a­tion app is that the dir­ec­tions are not always ne­ces­sar­ily accurate and sometimes it shows detours instead of the most direct route. Unlike Google, it does not always pri­or­it­ise the fastest/quickest way, instead opting for the most com­fort­able journey, which can then take longer. The app also takes up a lot of storage space on your phone. However, you can also download maps of in­di­vidu­al cities or regions, which is extremely con­veni­ent when trav­el­ling abroad.

The app Navmii, created by the eponymous Navmii Pub­lish­ing Ltd, is now available as free-of-charge, offline-func­tion­ing software. Navmii also uses Open­Street­Maps’s maps. In addition, the service extends the func­tion­al­ity of their maps with pro­fes­sion­al features like geocoding or real-time nav­ig­a­tion.  It also saves maps offline after a manual download, so that you can easily access and use them, even if network reception is low or you are running low on data. However, updates for Navmii are not as fast as Google Maps.

When used online, Navmii combines voice-based nav­ig­a­tion, real time traffic in­form­a­tion, local searches and driving stat­ist­ics, making it an above standard nav­ig­a­tion system.  The nav­ig­a­tion app displays up-to-date reports of accidents and con­struc­tion sites, as well as providing ad­di­tion­al in­teg­rated in­form­a­tion on Tri­pAd­visor and other similar sites. The app is free of charge for Android users, and free for iOS users in their first country since 2017. While the company’s previous country apps required a separate app for each national map, Navmii GPS World now provides access to maps for 197 countries within a single app. The new app saves you having to install multiple apps, but also requires more storage space. The amount required will vary depending on what type of device you have.

Waze is also often cited as a good al­tern­at­ive to Google Maps. However, Google bought Waze in 2013 so it doesn’t really count as a genuine al­tern­at­ive, instead, it’s more of a sup­ple­ment to Google Maps. Google did not integrate the app into their products but they use Waze’s in­form­a­tion to help develop their own programs. Maps on Waze are not freely available, coming under a pro­pri­et­ary license (like other Google apps) instead.

The map app is available for Android, iOS and Windows phones. Its basic function is to provide data on current traffic situ­ations. It is based on the simple principle that users auto­mat­ic­ally share in­form­a­tion with Waze as they use the app. This can be both an advantage and a dis­ad­vant­age: without consent to use this data, the principle doesn’t work. Users joining the data-sharing community is the only way that everyone can benefit from the in­form­a­tion available.

Another special feature is that you can network in smaller groups and share in­form­a­tion with them, like cheap petrol stations or current speed camera locations. In addition, when members of a group connect the service to Facebook, they can see who is located where, and how long everyone will need to get to the meeting point. Privacy-sensitive users, however, have rightly shown skep­ti­cism: since all data is connected to in­di­vidu­al Waze accounts, they are in­di­vidu­ally per­son­al­ised. If you prefer anonymity online, using this app is not an option.

HERE WeGo is the successor of Here, a nav­ig­a­tion app founded in Berlin that belonged to Nokia Maps. Car man­u­fac­tur­ers Audi, BMW, and Daimler are the main share­hold­ers in the company. HERE WeGo has its own map material sourced from Navteq, a geodata provider that merged with the Nokia group in 2011. The main feature of this app is that offline maps are available free of charge for around 100 countries for Windows, macOS, Android and iOS users. After Google Maps, HERE WeGo offers the most com­pre­hens­ive maps. However, satellite images are only available in online mode. A user-friendly route planner is also in­teg­rated. HERE WeGo is con­sidered a great al­tern­at­ive to Google Maps.

The map app provides dir­ec­tions, traffic and public transport in­form­a­tion, including subways, suburban trains, buses, etc. They also have detailed city maps of more than 1,300 cities around the world. Whether on foot, by bicycle, car, bus or train: the Google Maps al­tern­at­ive HERE WeGo provides precise in­form­a­tion on all routes and does not omit car sharing options or taxi rides. It is also very practical to compare different routes and means of transport directly with other users.

Offline maps for in­di­vidu­al companies or cities can be down­loaded manually with the app and can then be used for address searches, nav­ig­a­tion, and route planning. HERE WeGo also provides a voice output for up to 46 languages. In online mode, users have access to real-time traffic data and in­form­a­tion on in­di­vidu­al locations as with many other com­par­able map services. However, the app is missing a feature like Google Street View, allowing you to view public places online from a more natural per­spect­ive.

One downside is that some in­form­a­tion is out of date and does not get updated as quickly as Google Maps. This includes in­form­a­tion about res­taur­ants and ATMs for example. In order to seriously compete with the leader, these little details would need to be included and/or improved on. It is unclear, however, if this will be pursued, con­sid­er­ing the owners of this app – car man­u­fac­tur­ers may be more in­ter­ested in further de­vel­op­ing the service into an automated driving app.