Release 2026.01.24 is now out on all distribution channels! Beyond fresh OpenStreetMap data, it includes adding road outlines for better readability, renaming of the “Bookmarks & Tracks” to the clearer “Favorites” and many more updates: https://codeberg.org/comaps/comaps/releases/tag/v2026.01.24-5
As a contributor to OSM, I didn’t know about what was going on with Organic Maps. I might check out CoMaps on F-Droid to see how it compares with OsmAnd~. Thanks, OP!
Admittedly I only read this open letter and so am still too out-of-the-loop to say if Organic Maps is in the wrong here. Still, it seems like a sizable and competent enough fork that my initial bias is against Organic Maps.
“Profit off the free contributions to inflate shareholder value” is about the gist of it from what was summarized. Might hold off checking this out if that’s the case.
For clarification, Organic Maps was the project that has been accused of mismanagement. A significant portion of that community departed to create this app, CoMaps. The goal from the outset was to create a more transparent and open community, hence the name, community maps or CoMaps.
CoMaps is a fairly recent fork of what was already an excellent app, but likely with poor management ethics behind it. I’ve been extremely impressed by the rapid pace of development on a pretty sizable project. There are already hundreds of small (and a few not so small) improvements over the project it was forked from.
This was the second time, so it wasn’t really unexpected. Maps.me was foss, then they sold it, and the original devs forked it after the sale, that’s how Organic Maps came to life. They started to sell out AGAIN, but now different devs forked it before it could have been sold. Current version of Organic Maps already contains some ads.
That’s true, there are some projects to bring features like street view/360 view, interactive business listings, internal views, etc. In my area, I still have to switch back and forth between Google and OSM, but some areas are much more complete. It just depends on where you live and which specific features you rely on.
It will never come from scraping a copyrighted source, as that would be fundamentally against the ethos of the project 🤷
Asking out of pure confusion and not at all out of snark, but what is the purpose of the app? A reskin of osm? What features does it add beyond those found in Osmand~?
I use OSMand more for car navigation or hiking navigation, CoMaps for me is more for finding out about a store, or a coffeeplace in the city somewhere… the search is somehow just miles ahead of OSMand (which almost never satisfies me) and the UI decisions just seem better for that. It also looks fantastic, although OSMand is highly customizable and for car navigation i’m really happy with the map settings i have.
It’s a very different approach. Personally, I could never fit OSMand into my daily routine, but this one has been great.
It’s not a reskin, it’s built from the ground up. Although it is technically a fork of a fork (not OSMand).
For me, much more user-friendly and intuitive and even quicker. They both use open street maps data, but I think they are worlds apart. I haven’t done any testing with OSMand for a couple years, so I couldn’t tell you which specific features are different.
I find it very easy to read, day or night. It’s quick to add a destination for navigation. It’s very easy to create updates directly from the app that will upload to OSM.
Osmand~ and CoMaps (fork of Organic Maps) use the same map data, but different rendering/routing engines.
Osmand~ is everything and the kitchen sink. Any feature you can think of, it probably has
CoMaps is just the basics for 85% of people. It’s much simpler, its map drawing is much faster (no lag while waiting for tiles/branches/labels like Osmand), and much faster on-device routing than Osmand.
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As a contributor to OSM, I didn’t know about what was going on with Organic Maps. I might check out CoMaps on F-Droid to see how it compares with OsmAnd~. Thanks, OP!
Out of the loop here but what’s going on with Organic Maps?
Admittedly I only read this open letter and so am still too out-of-the-loop to say if Organic Maps is in the wrong here. Still, it seems like a sizable and competent enough fork that my initial bias is against Organic Maps.
“Profit off the free contributions to inflate shareholder value” is about the gist of it from what was summarized. Might hold off checking this out if that’s the case.
For clarification, Organic Maps was the project that has been accused of mismanagement. A significant portion of that community departed to create this app, CoMaps. The goal from the outset was to create a more transparent and open community, hence the name, community maps or CoMaps.
CoMaps is a fairly recent fork of what was already an excellent app, but likely with poor management ethics behind it. I’ve been extremely impressed by the rapid pace of development on a pretty sizable project. There are already hundreds of small (and a few not so small) improvements over the project it was forked from.
sigh
Sake. Can every bloody FOSS project stop falling out with itself and fighting with each other?
This was the second time, so it wasn’t really unexpected. Maps.me was foss, then they sold it, and the original devs forked it after the sale, that’s how Organic Maps came to life. They started to sell out AGAIN, but now different devs forked it before it could have been sold. Current version of Organic Maps already contains some ads.
The current version of organic maps has ads?! Can you corroborate this with evidence?
Also how the hell was maps.me captures, then organic maps also?! Who are the VC leeches sucking our community dry. They need to be called out.
https://github.com/organicmaps/organicmaps/pull/6523
They are called out in the open letter: https://openletter.earth/open-letter-to-organic-maps-shareholders-a0bf770c
This is no longer in the app, to be clear. It was removed in may 2025.
For every one that fails there are 15 that keep steady
I still think osm needs better business listings, maybe the fine ladies at Anna’s can scrape Google maps 🚬
It will if you enter them.
What’s street complete? I signed up for something on osm to contribute but I never see an option to contribute
Basically Pokemon Go but you catch OSM updates: https://streetcomplete.app/
StreetComplete is a separate app dedicated to updating OSM stuff
That’s true, there are some projects to bring features like street view/360 view, interactive business listings, internal views, etc. In my area, I still have to switch back and forth between Google and OSM, but some areas are much more complete. It just depends on where you live and which specific features you rely on.
It will never come from scraping a copyrighted source, as that would be fundamentally against the ethos of the project 🤷
I just wish they updated OSM data quicker; I’ve done updates that still aren’t represented.
Theyre aiming to reduce overall load on OSM as much as possible
I see it supports Android Auto. Does anyone know if its only the google play store version that supports Android auto?
I’m gonna try this out. I like OsmAnd~, but sometimes it feels like it’s like shooting out of cannon to sparrows (which is one thing I love about it).
Asking out of pure confusion and not at all out of snark, but what is the purpose of the app? A reskin of osm? What features does it add beyond those found in Osmand~?
I use OSMand more for car navigation or hiking navigation, CoMaps for me is more for finding out about a store, or a coffeeplace in the city somewhere… the search is somehow just miles ahead of OSMand (which almost never satisfies me) and the UI decisions just seem better for that. It also looks fantastic, although OSMand is highly customizable and for car navigation i’m really happy with the map settings i have.
It’s a very different approach. Personally, I could never fit OSMand into my daily routine, but this one has been great.
It’s not a reskin, it’s built from the ground up. Although it is technically a fork of a fork (not OSMand).
For me, much more user-friendly and intuitive and even quicker. They both use open street maps data, but I think they are worlds apart. I haven’t done any testing with OSMand for a couple years, so I couldn’t tell you which specific features are different.
I find it very easy to read, day or night. It’s quick to add a destination for navigation. It’s very easy to create updates directly from the app that will upload to OSM.
Is OSMAnd available on Android Auto?
Osmand~ and CoMaps (fork of Organic Maps) use the same map data, but different rendering/routing engines.
Osmand~ is everything and the kitchen sink. Any feature you can think of, it probably has
CoMaps is just the basics for 85% of people. It’s much simpler, its map drawing is much faster (no lag while waiting for tiles/branches/labels like Osmand), and much faster on-device routing than Osmand.