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> Needless to say I quickly gave up on using OSM and turned back to Google Maps--and I'm their perfect use case, a skilled techie with a deep interest in using free software! I can't imagine trying to explain how to use OSM to my mom

My mom got an iPhone gifted from my dad, so there's mistake number one (I don't know of any decent OSM apps on that proprietary platform), but for what it's worth, my non-technical girlfriend has no trouble with it. Then again, that was 2014ish, not sure what time you're talking about.

> require downloading huge amounts of data and picking what maps you want ahead of time

It's not easy to find, I agree, but you can use it without downloading a single map. If being online all the time floats your boat, you can do that (at least in Osmand, the de facto app for Android).

> The UIs were universally terrible (at the time at least)

OsmAnd invested a lot of time in this. I didn't mind the old UI that much and the new one has some things I don't like (but are probably easier for newbies), but it might be worth a try again. Especially if you live in Europe, and definitely if you live in the Netherlands or west Germany, the map data is much more complete than Google's on everything but business information.




Here's an iOS + Android app that the company I work for makes - it uses OSM as a source, plus proprietary maps for Czech Republic (where we're based).

I believe it has one of nicest and most usable map keys for outdoor navigation:

https://windymaps.com/app


I use Galileo, but it's the only one I've used on Android or iOS so I'm not sure how good it is but it works for me.


Thanks for the tip, I'll check it out!


> I don't know of any decent OSM apps on that proprietary platform

Is ViewRanger of use? (Disclosure: I used to work there).

It’s focused on outdoor pursuits such as hiking and biking rather than driving or public transit, but OSM is one of the available maps.


The use case would mainly be driving, but thanks for the tip! I hadn't heard of it yet.


Actually, Apple Maps uses (or at least used to use) OSM data for certain parts of the world.


Apple is also starting to do work on improving OSM.

https://github.com/osmlab/appledata




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