this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2026
1391 points (99.9% liked)

News

39046 readers
2194 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious biased sources will be removed at the mods’ discretion. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted separately but not to the post body. Sources may be checked for reliability using Wikipedia, MBFC, AdFontes, GroundNews, etc.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source. Clickbait titles may be removed.


Posts which titles don’t match the source may be removed. If the site changed their headline, we may ask you to update the post title. Clickbait titles use hyperbolic language and do not accurately describe the article content. When necessary, post titles may be edited, clearly marked with [brackets], but may never be used to editorialize or comment on the content.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials, videos, press releases, or celebrity gossip will be allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis. Mods may use discretion to pre-approve videos or press releases from highly credible sources that provide unique, newsworthy content not available or possible in another format.


7. No duplicate posts.


If an article has already been posted, it will be removed. Different articles reporting on the same subject are permitted. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners or news aggregators.


All posts must link to original article sources. You may include archival links in the post description. News aggregators such as Yahoo, Google, Hacker News, etc. should be avoided in favor of the original source link. Newswire services such as AP, Reuters, or AFP, are frequently republished and may be shared from other credible sources.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
 

MapQuest stood up to President Donald Trump, and now its app is reaping the rewards.

The “OG of online mapping,” as the company calls itself, announced on Thursday that it would not change the name of Lake Ontario on its maps to Lake America, despite Trump’s executive order directing the U.S. Department of the Interior to update the lake’s name in the U.S. geographic naming service. As a result, MapQuest’s mobile app downloads soared, sending the iOS app to the No. 4 position on the U.S. App Store’s Top Charts for apps (not including games) as of Monday morning on the U.S. east coast.

MapQuest also reached the No. 8 position overall in the U.S. App Store across both apps and games, and it became the No. 1 Navigation app in the United States.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] EliteCloneMike@lemmy.zip 182 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (4 children)

Great! Hope people more move away from Google Maps. OSM would be even better, but MapQuest is a good step away from the Monopoly of Google.

Edit: Just realized that in Google Maps the acronym for the Great Lakes is no longer “HOMES” but could now be known as “SHAME”.

[–] WesternInfidels@feddit.online 35 points 2 days ago (3 children)

If you've got a favorite replacement for the Google Maps mobile app, this would be a great place to tell people about it. I believe the world of Open Street Map (OSM) is likely to be a little intimidating, a little daunting, for the masses, so an easy starting point might be especially helpful.

[–] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 52 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (3 children)

Copy-pasting my own comment:

For using OSM on Android (edit: and iOS):

  • I use OsmAnd, which is free on F-Droid. It's very feature-rich, and I can customize it pretty much exactly how I like. There's a good tutorial for beginners here.
  • However, some people prefer the simplicity of the app CoMaps, which is available for Android, iOS, macOS, and Linux (Flathub). It's a fork of Organic Maps that arose over disagreements with Organic's governance (see: open letter).
  • There are also specialty apps like Alpi Maps for more specialized uses of OSM (in Alpi Maps' case, hiking).

For contributing to OSM on Android:

  • I use Vespucci for more complex edits on Android, so things like adding features. (The rough iOS equivalent is Go Map!!.)
  • I use StreetComplete for a more trimmed-down, gamified experience. It isn't a power user experience like Vespucci, but it's often really useful if you're just on the go and want to make small but meaningful contributions.

The easiest way I've found to contribute local information is the iD editor on desktop; it's the one that pops up if you click 'Edit' on OpenStreetMap.org. It strikes a good balance between user-friendliness and power user stuff. For full-on power users, JOSM is a good option. And the easiest way to contribute in a limited way is StreetComplete, which will ask you questions about existing features (like "does this traffic signal have a walk button for pedestrians?")


The OpenStreetMap Wiki is a great general resource for using and contributing.

[–] kent_eh@lemmy.ca 13 points 2 days ago

Another benefit for casual users is that StreetComplete doesn't require you to worry about the details of formatting your submissions, it simply asks you if this thing is here, or what are the hours of this business, or if there is a sidewalk or what is the address number on this building and things like that, then it submits a correctly formatted response to the OSM database.

[–] drakairos@feddit.online 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)
[–] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

... Huh. Can't believe I forgot this.

[–] lemmyng@piefed.ca 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Those are great choices for navigation. What options are there for map/location based business search?

[–] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I don't think I understand the question. OsmAnd and CoMaps are both meant to show businesses, and how much information those businesses have is, for most cases, dependent upon what's in the underlying OSM database, not what OsmAnd or CoMaps are able to show.

On OsmAnd, for example, I'm able to go to Configure Map > POI Overlay and select whatever type of POI I'm looking for. In CoMaps (mobile), I can select the magnifying glass and then go to Categories.

[–] lemmyng@piefed.ca 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

In CoMaps (mobile), I can select the magnifying glass and then go to Categories.

Omfg I'm a dumbass, I never noticed the categories tab in CoMaps!

[–] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

Dude, I forgot OsmAnd had an iOS version until like a couple hours ago. We're all dumbasses on this blessed day.

[–] cobysev@lemmy.world 19 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Use CoMaps. It's a privacy-first app that pulls their map data from OpenStreetMaps. If something is inaccurate on the map, you can edit it on OSM and it'll populate to most map services. I've made changes and seen it pop up on Google Maps too.

I downloaded CoMaps from F-Droid (https://f-droid.org/), just to avoid the Google Play Store. Slowly de-Googling my life...

I don't know if there is an iOS version. Apple is the OG evil company, long before Google got rid of their "Don't Be Evil" motto, so I avoid their products. Now I'm trying to get off Android stuff too, but there aren't many alternatives right now.

EDIT: Someone else linked a website for CoMaps and it does have an iOS app. Also an Apple and Linux desktop program. No Windows though.

[–] yestalgia@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

CoMaps is a great app for iOS and Android. Cleaner interface than OsmAnd. FOSS and uses open street maps.

[–] AmyAye@nord.pub 18 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Mapquest lets you have a Rainbow Unicorn icon. Sorry OSM, MapQuest wins.

[–] joostjakob@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

But but we at OSM have interminable discussion about how to map several flavors of lgbtq stuff. Surely that must count for something?! Also here is an OSM project to show these places https://pkoby.github.io/LGBTQmap/#13/51.4979/-0.0887 And here's a map with just the rainbow pedestrian crossing https://mapcomplete.org/rainbow_crossings

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I just checked and OSM had the lake listed as Lake Ontario, so that app is good to go as well.

Tested CoMaps and Mapy but they don't seem to have names of lakes and other bodies of water?

[–] HumanOnEarth@lemmy.ca 9 points 2 days ago

I was about to pivot to CoMaps but then saw this mapquest thing taking off.....

One way or another, Google is out. GrapheneOS is in this week.

[–] dreamkeeper@literature.cafe 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

OSMAnd is horrendous to use on Android if you just need to get simple directions.

[–] Anivia@feddit.org 2 points 1 day ago

It also misses a ton of roadworks in my area, so it's quite literally unusuable. More than half the time it will try to route me along a closed road