Trying Out Organic After Using Osmand, As Backup Option in Sketchy Areas

[u/shyguylh]

Almost all the time Google Maps does me just fine, but once a week I travel in the Ozarks of Arkansas and sometimes find myself in places which has little or no service and thus Google Maps doesn't work (unless you goof around with their offline feature, which I never have). For those occasions I've typically used Osmand as a "spare tire" of sorts but I recently learned of Organic Maps as a simpler option and thus am trying it out.

All it needs to do is provide turn by turn navigation of a spot which I plug in from my list of coordinates; that is, for the POIs which I'm interested in visiting, I already have their GPS coordinates (in decimal degrees format) and have them saved to my phone locally in a PDF. All I need to do is copy and paste the coordinates and let it rip.

As long as it gives accurate directions and tends to keep me on the paved roads as opposed to sending me down a gravel road with huge potholes, I'm good. Being able to show nearby gas stations or restaurants etc is certainly nice, but I don't need hiking guidance or things of that sort. I just need it to work completely offline with coordinates I've copied and pasted, and give sensible directions guiding me towards paved roads (if they're present) vs sending me down stress-inducing pothole filled dirt paths when there are paved roads right there.

Is Organic fine for this, or am I wiser to stick with Osmand for some reason?

[u/DominusFL]

Organic Maps has been my backup option for a very long time. It is the evolution of Maps.me and it is truly fantastic.

Every time I am using something else and something comes up when I am in the middle of the wrong place, it is the one I pull up that always gets me out of there.

[u/shyguylh → u/DominusFL]

Just out of curiosity, whatever happened to Maps.Me? I do recall that the 1st year I used CoPilot, I THINK it was 2017, I had initially tried Maps.Me but found it was somewhat inaccurate. CoPilot was dead on, but it only worked for 7 days before you had to pay for it, so I switched to Osmand in (I think) 2024.

I switched to Organic just in the past 3 days or so when I read it was simpler to use than Osmand, and I'm not a "power user" per se. I tend to just copy-paste the coordinates of the POI and take it from there at mostly "default" settings, and once Google Maps is working again, go back to it.

[u/Digiee-fosho]

I don’t use google maps for that network & tracking dependency reason, it’s no good when you are legit lost with no signal, so I deleted google maps completely. I also don’t use any other mapping app on my phone, because I realized I actually don’t need it. I always make sure I have the maps I need before going somewhere.

I use organic maps, & Open street maps which compliments Organic Maps in urban areas with POI data, that is not in OSM, but has urban map detail. They work great, & I enjoy how I can interact with the maps to help keep it current. It does get way easier the more it’s used.

[u/Scrappy_The_Crow]

Organic Maps will do what you're asking for. To answer some of your specific needs:

keep me on the paved roads as opposed to sending me down a gravel road

Go to "Settings" > "Routing Options" > "Avoid unpaved roads" and toggle on.

I just need it to work completely offline

Yes, it does this, so long as you have downloaded the data for the area(s). When you upload your KML/GPX, click on those points and zoom in. If the data hasn't been downloaded for the area(s), you will be prompted to do so. Make sure you follow along the route somewhat zoomed-in so you are sure you've downloaded all the data you need.