This really matters in map apps when you're on the road. Apple Maps is all very nice with transit planning but without a solid net connection it lies there mutely. Organic Maps (and others) that use downloaded OSM data work well with nothing more than GPS. You can get a transit plan (trains & trams & buses, and the transfers among them) without up-to-the-minute arrival info.

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stephbook 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Google and Apple maps have an offline mode. Just select the area you want downloaded and that's that.

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palata 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Have you ever tried Organic Maps or CoMaps?

Last time I tried with Google I could only download a relatively small area, and it would only be available temporarily.

With CoMaps, I can download entire countries and keep them forever. That's pretty different.

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euroderf an hour ago | parent | next [-]

Yes, and Organic Maps and Maps.Me do the same - download entire countries or regions. It is SO tremendously useful when traveling. Have not tried CoMaps yet.

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vrganj 44 minutes ago | parent [-]

Maps.me, Organic Maps and CoMaps are all the same family.

Maps.me used to be an open source project, when they took it closed source and tried to commercialize it, the last open source version was forked and is now known as Organic Maps.

Then the Organic Maps maintainer started acting sketchy, introduced a paid partnership with Kayak and generally not behaving in a very community minded way. Organic Maps was forked and the new version is now known as CoMaps.

We'll see how long this one lasts.

	▲	palata 20 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Yep, that's the beauty of open source: "what do we do if we end up disagreeing with the maintainers?" -> just fork away :-).

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dust-jacket 40 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

You're not wrong, but this feels like an equivalent to range-anxiety in electric cars.

The area you can download is still pretty large - whole cities, big chunks of countryside. I'd put money on the fact its good enough for most people's uses.

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palata 17 minutes ago | parent [-]

> I'd put money on the fact its good enough for most people's uses.

I don't know anyone (and I mean exactly zero) who ever used the offline feature of Google Maps. Online is good enough for people who almost always have an Internet connection. What happens when they don't is that they don't have access to the map.

People who care about having offline access (because they live in a place where they don't always have Internet or just because they care) don't bother using the Google offline feature. They use proper offline maps instead. Maybe in parallel to Google Maps: it's possible to have Google Maps and CoMaps.

	▲	inigyou 15 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		I've used it. What happens is the app mostly keeps working as normal during connection dropouts (in between cell towers while travelling) instead of getting stuck loading or displaying an error. It's the exact same experience, not a separate offline experience.

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amazingamazing an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

Google and apple maps work the same with offline mode.