this post was submitted on 19 Apr 2025

62 points (100.0% liked)

OpenStreetMap community

4731 readers

3 users here now

Everything #OpenStreetMap related is welcome: software releases, showing of your work, questions about how to tag something, as long as it has to do with OpenStreetMap or OpenStreetMap-related software.

OpenStreetMap is a map of the world, created by people like you and free to use under an open license.

Join OpenStreetMap and start mapping: https://www.openstreetmap.org/.

There are many communication channels about OSM, many organized around a certain country or region. Discover them on https://openstreetmap.community/

https://mapcomplete.org/ is an easy-to-use website to view, edit and add points (such as shops, restaurants and others)

https://learnosm.org/en/ has a lot of information for beginners too.

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

OsmAnd 5.0 (Android) | OsmAnd (osmand.net)

submitted 2 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

25 comments fedilink hide all child comments

all 26 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

OsmAnd is a genuinely amazing app that I have been using for literally 14 years. For everything other than business information, it's clearly the best in class. Far better than the new kid on the FOSS block Organic Maps, let alone certain commercial apps that shall remain nameless. It's always a surprise to me how few normies have even heard of OsmAnd. Possibly not helped by the awkward semi-pronouncable name.

I'm just bothered by one thing: the ongoing opacity about OsmAnd's business model. They provide no explanations at all, despite the slick site and what appears to be an impressive staff list. They need to be more transparent about who's paying for all this and how.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

Osmand isn't cheap to buy and a lot of people pay for it. Where else do you think their money comes from?

Osmand is slow and too complex on my pixel 9, yet I still use it

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

Osmand is slow

Yeah, rendering speed is atrocious. Organic Map renders much smoother.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Have you tried the "new" OpenGL renderer? It fares much better for me. (Actually, maybe it's the default now?)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

@balsoft

It's faster, but still incredibly slow.

@woelkchen

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

But only on android ... It's blazingly fast on ios

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

The submission's topic is the Android version, though.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

It's FOSS and available free on F-Droid. Small app transactions are not paying for that staff list.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Osmand is slow and too complex on my pixel 9, yet I still use it

Stock ROM or possibly GrapheneOS?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Yes, graphene

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

You enabled exploit protection compatibility mode as mentioned in the link?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

Yes, exploit protection is not responsible for osmands slowness. It could impact startup, but nothing more

It's not related to graphene. I've seen osmamd being snaily on other flagships as well

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

It's slow in general, they're not using vector maps like organic maps do. I love what OsmAnd does but it's definitely slower to render and more sluggish to navigate than other maps on my FairPhone 5.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Yes and no. OsmAnd tends to have far more details to display — more data to display or filter out. I'm guessing that if you had a smaller rendering file (instruction for painting) along with a smaller obf (less data due to prefiltering), it'd be closer to comparable.

Edit: The link, which addresses slowness with GrapheneOS not experienced with stock ROM, seems to specifically address the (non-stock) FairPhone too.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

@przmk
They're both vector based. Purely from usage it feels like OsmAnd is rerendering everything from scratch every time with little caching. If you pan away and pan back it takes effectively the same amount of time to recreate the previously rendered view as a fresh view. This time seems to increase with addition obfs for "live" updates etc.
When Organic Maps updates slowly it tends to feel like vector tiles "falling back" to lower zoom until more detail is retrieved.
@goldfndr

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

@JubilantJaguar @testman

Hope we're not bothering here but if you're looking for more maps just take a look at our map Lokjo.

It doesn't have offline maps or an app, but does show all shops at once, and has the navigation etc.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago

Yay! Now to wait while it trickles down to F-Droid...

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

When does this version 5 release on F-Droid?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

@Sir_Kevin
The F-droid version is unofficial so they're unlikely to have an answer to that.

@testman

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Well this version is hitting me up for money to download open street maps regions, which itself is a community driven foss project. I'll stick with the version that supports F-Droid and doesn't charge me for my own content.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago

@Sir_Kevin if it's your own data you probably qualify for the contributors program if you don't want to help fund development.

@openstreetmap

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

@Sir_Kevin
After the release of a new OsmAnd main version, it usually takes at least a few weeks, but sometimes several months, until it appears on F-Droid

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

```
New main navigation widget combines turn arrow and navigation instructions
```
Current route info widget: displays ETA, arrival time, and distance Redesigned the Configure screen for widgets New option to select widget size for left and right panels Reset action for the Average speed widget Discover Top-Ranked POIs with the New Explore Mode Wikidata Integration in Map Data (Popular Places - Wikipedia) Improved searching OSM routes and choosing it for navigation Detailed information on Ski Slopes and MTB Trails Added Coordinates Grid with geographical coordinates Crags and climbing areas on the map Detailed information for linear objects Mountain peak heights in feet Prominent peaks now discoverable via map and search USA address search with TIGER data Changing UX for Intermediate destinations in Waypoints Added ability to change and set the default appearance for favorite groups Android Auto improvements AIS Vessel Tracking plugin (nautical navigation)

Optional updates. Additional updates and refinements for the release.