this post was submitted on 30 Oct 2026
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DeGoogle Yourself
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yes Vela Maps, typo
it works great and I use it whenever OSMAnd isn't enough or just simply unsuitable (finding restaurants e.g.).
It's up to you if you'd rather use GMaps directly or just pass on important information like that OFC
...or just live without live traffic information and get the other info from business websites
traffic info is a nice-to-have, sure, but I've used just OSMand+ for years and it's never really been an issue.
adresilo is a good way to get access to Google place data anonymously, if you feel like you need it. I used it a lot at first when it was a novelty, and now I use it about ~10 times per year.
Sorry, but traffic info is an absolute must-have if you drive for a living. Even if you don't, getting stuck in traffic jams is a waste of fuel/energy, time, & sanity. It also is dependent upon where you are as some areas are better engineered for traffic issues than others (the older the major city, the worse it tends to be - it's particularly bad in the northeastern US).
You can anonymously get Google place data free (unlike your suggestion) by opening maps in a browser like Firefox Focus that forgets everything each time you exit it. You can also use one of a few apps on F-Droid like GMaps WV that use an isolated webview to do similarly (although you should be aware this is less secure than Firefox Focus because WebRTC can't be blocked this way & the app's cache must be manually cleared).
Yeah and Vela Maps does it even better
I've been using it off & on. While it's gotten better, it's still a bit much of a battery-killer, comparatively speaking. It's surprising how decent it is, but that's definitely preventing me from adopting it full time yet.
Also, I find it copying Google too closely. For example, I've never understood why we can't just get directions without all the "alerts" that are over-reported by people just for Internet points. I hate already being a mile into a ten-mile construction zone, and being told there's "construction ahead" repeatedly throughout the rest of the construction. It's just so stupid and incredibly annoying. It'd be really nice to have the ability to select which warnings get spoken, and maybe disable all warnings for a selectable period (like 10 or 20 mins or miles).
There's other stuff, too, but they're far more minor to me. Until the battery sucking issue is resolved, I just can't be bothered. I'm keeping an eye on it, though.
I already have Vela Maps for those lookups, thank you for the suggestion tho