The next headline will read, OpenStreetMaps gains users as Apple adds ads to maps.
I wish it were good enough to be a viable alternative but it really isn’t.
If it’s missing data (such as locations) that is the issue, then you can update the map yourself and help others migrate at the same time. Every little bit helps, even if you don’t plan on fully moving over. I’ve done over a thousand changes to my local area and it’s actually more accurate than Google Maps in a lot of the commercial areas. You don’t have to do a thousand things though, like I said, every little bit helps.
Of course, it doesn’t help for outside of your area if you only do changes locally, but if enough people were willing to update the map, things could change.
Adding onto that, the app StreetComplete makes contributing stupidly easy. You basically get a bunch of quests generatef around you with missing or potentially outdated data that you can fill in by answering simple questions. Basically Pokemon Go, but infinitely more useful.
It’s not. It’s that the apps that use it have bad UIs and/or don’t support CarPlay. I haven’t found an alternative yet that was usable day to day.
To each their own I suppose. CoMaps is great for me, and I’ve never used carplay.
i recommend people get streetcomplete too so you can help build out osm! :)
I thought if people pay for things, like extreamly expensive Apple hardware, no ads can exist there? Must be confused or hearing things.
The business majors are about to learn an important lesson about open source.
Are they though? The top valued companies in the world are balls-deep in advertising and data collection.
Those companies need people to believe they don’t have a choice present them with a choice and watch the ad people freak the fuck out.
If you’re not paying, you’re the product. If you’re paying, you may still be the product.
Open source is the exception, and it’s important to note that.
Now you may be thinking “well duh”, but I’ve seen plenty of people, even fairly techy people, refuse to use good FOSS software because they think they’re being monetised somehow and that because there’s no ads, it must be from secret data theft.
and sometimes you don’t pay and aren’t the product, yay open source!
If you’re paying, you
mayare still be the product.Can we stop being stupid for once
This isn’t Reddit. No need to be unnecessarily abrasive.
Oh fuck dude. You made coffee come out my nose.
Who said that?
It was generally believed about a year ago that ads would only show up in free products, like Google search, or whatever.
Now we see them in cars, Apple software and all sorts of very expensive products.
Because its never enough ads.
It was generally believed about a year ago that ads would only show up in free products
It definitely was not lol. Ads have been in paid products for literal decades by this point.
You’re not going to be seeing an ad for plane tickets on the map - if you search for “burgers” you might get an ad for Burger King show up as a sponsored result at the top. That’s it, it’s just ads for companies that are relevant to what you searched for in the app.
Maybe in some products but not a lot. We didnt have ads in Netflix, we didnt have ads in cars, we didnt have ads in tv software and so on. You probably know this.
I dont see the point of pretending its not getting worse. A lot worse.
Cable tv has literally had ads for decades. Magazines have had ads for as long as they existed.
What world have you been living in?
Sure those things had ads, but you are seemingly ignoring the new places that have ads now.
But I dont care really if you see it or not. :)
That’s a different story. You said that up until a year ago paid products didn’t have ads. That’s demonstrably false, we have decades of evidence to prove so.
remember when apple didn’t have ads because they were premium?
Use OpenStreetMaps
Yeah I know it could be incomplete at times but its our job as a community to improve it if we want “free” software
CoMaps is a nice offline alternitive. Not perfect,but it respects privacy
to be clear this isn’t a privacy issue. they are allowing companies to pay to be featured more prominently in the app.
The only way to get neo-liberals to care about being taken advantage of by businesses is to make it not about money.
Sure, but one can argue that data is being exchanged for ads.
Regardless, CoMaps is still a solid offline app that is being worked on. I wish we had a better version of Google or Apple maps without the bloat
So you overpay them for crappy iPhone and have to pay them again by watching ads?
Don’t forget web users. Duck duck go uses Apple Maps.
I guess DuckDuck pays them, so Duck users would be spared of the ads?
Apple has really lost its identity.
Apple Silicon is really all that seperate them.
All of these Big Tech companies are slimy fucks actively working to enslave humanity. There are no good guys. I puked in my mouth watching Tim Cook fawn over Trump. None of these people have a shred of decency. Fuck Apple. Fuck Google. Buy a paper map.
Better yet, help support open data initiatives like OpenStreetMaps or alternatives. No reason why maps can’t be digital without ads.
Tried to, but they block some vpn IPs and ne some mail domains, notably mail aliases
Plus they basically stopped replying to me. Are mail aliases really used as spam? I believe it’s a made up thing
And anyways, when contacting them manually, it should be enough to understand that it’s not automated. It would be so easy to spam register using non flagged IPs and non flagged domains but they’re still rigid about these rules. I hate when services do that.
support open data initiatives like OpenStreetMaps
Yes!, continue supporting OpenStreetMaps so Apple, Mapbox, Microsoft, Uber and Lyft can continue turning your free work into millions of dollars.
buy a paper map…no man we went away from that for a reason.
Once you create a monetization team that puts ads in shit, they’re going to want to keep putting more ads in stuff. They’re all judged on how much better they do year over year.
Apple should’ve never created a team that sold ads on their platforms.
Apple should’ve never created a team that sold ads on their platforms.
Why not? If stupid users are willing to accept it, the business is obligated to do it.
It’s the world we’ve built for ourselves.
They’ll probably make “Maps+” soon after.
Only until they rename it the week later: Apple Maps Pro Max 4K (2026 gen 2)
I’m done.
Is CoMaps the only alternative besides google maps?
Magic Earth
I’m genuinely surprised they don’t put ads on things like hospital bills.
It’s all about maximizing profits off of people’s low standards.
