[opensourcedex]

Organic Maps is a free, open source maps & navigation project written in C++ and released under a custom open-source licence. It has 15,439 GitHub stars, 1,589 forks and 3,510 open issues, and was last pushed 9 hours ago. On this registry it ranks #1 of 3 tracked projects in Maps & Navigation, with 5 head-to-head comparisons available. It gained 44 stars over the last 6 tracked days.

Organic Maps — Privacy-first offline maps for hiking, cycling & navigation

What is Organic Maps?

What it is

Organic Maps is a free Android and iOS offline maps and GPS app. It lives in the mobile maps and navigation ecosystem. It uses crowd-sourced OpenStreetMap data. The app was created by the MapsWithMe (MAPS.ME) founders and maintained by an open-source community. It is installed by more than 6 million users worldwide.

The project solves map use without constant network access, ads, tracking, data collection, registration, push notifications, or phoning home. It gives hikers, cyclists, tourists, and travelers a way to view detailed maps, plan routes, and navigate offline. It also aims to save battery and avoid unexpected mobile data charges.

Key capabilities

  • Detailed offline maps include places that may not exist on other maps, using OpenStreetMap data.
  • Cycling routes, hiking trails, and walking paths support outdoor travel and route planning.
  • Contour lines, elevation profiles, peaks, and slopes show terrain information.
  • Turn-by-turn walking, cycling, and car navigation includes voice guidance.
  • Subway maps and public transport routes provide public transport map data.
  • Fast offline search lets users find places on downloaded map data.
  • Bookmarks and tracks can be imported and exported in KML, KMZ, GPX, and GeoJSON formats.

Who uses it and how

  • Hikers and cyclists use it for offline route following, terrain review, and track import or export.
  • Tourists and travelers use it for maps, search, public transport, and walking navigation without mobile data charges.
  • Privacy-conscious users install it to avoid ads, tracking, registration, push notifications, and data collection.
  • Drivers use it for car navigation with voice guidance while keeping map data offline.
  • Community users support it through donations because the project relies on voluntary funding and grants.

Getting started

Users install Organic Maps from the Apple App Store, Google Play, Huawei AppGallery, F-Droid, Accrescent, or GitHub using Obtainium. The README also points to the homepage and donation page for project support.

When to use it — and when not to

Use Organic Maps when offline maps, privacy, and open-source licensing matter more than registration, push notifications, or data collection. It is an open-source alternative to Google Maps, Apple Maps, and MAPS.ME for mobile users. Do not choose it as a hosted service or self-hosted platform, because the facts describe a mobile app, not a server product. A weakness is financial sustainability: the project says donations fall short of needed costs, and new feature development may be limited by lack of resources.

project readme (upstream, from github) — read inline

Organic Maps

Organic Maps is a privacy-first offline maps & GPS app for hiking, cycling, biking, and driving. Absolutely free. No ads. No tracking. Created and maintained by MapsWithMe (MAPS.ME) founders, developed with love by the open-source community. Powered by OpenStreetMap data. Installed by over 6 million users worldwide.

Features

Organic Maps is the ultimate companion app for travellers, tourists, hikers, and cyclists:

  • Detailed offline maps with places that don't exist on other maps, thanks to OpenStreetMap
  • Cycling routes, hiking trails, and walking paths
  • Contour lines, elevation profiles, peaks, and slopes
  • Turn-by-turn walking, cycling, and car navigation with voice guidance
  • Subway maps and public transport routes
  • Fast offline search on the map
  • Bookmarks and tracks import and export in KML, KMZ, GPX, GeoJSON formats
  • Dark Mode to protect your eyes
  • Countries and regions don't take a lot of space
  • Wikipedia articles for places of interest
  • Free and open-source

Why Organic?

Organic Maps is pure and organic, made with love:

  • Respects your privacy
  • Saves your battery
  • No unexpected mobile data charges
  • Offline and fast
  • Open-source alternative to Google Maps, Apple Maps, and MAPS.ME

Organic Maps is free from trackers and other bad stuff:

  • No ads
  • No tracking
  • No data collection
  • No phoning home
  • No annoying registration
  • No mandatory tutorials
  • No noisy email spam
  • No push notifications
  • No crapware
  • No pesticides Purely organic!

The Android application is verified by the Exodus Privacy Project:

The iOS application is verified by TrackerControl for iOS:


Organic Maps doesn't request excessive permissions to spy on you:

At Organic Maps, we believe that privacy is a fundamental human right:

  • Organic Maps is an indie community-driven open-source project
  • We protect your privacy from Big Tech's prying eyes
  • Stay safe no matter where you are

Reject surveillance - embrace your freedom.

Give Organic Maps a try!

Who is paying for the development?

The app is free for everyone, so we rely on your donations. Please donate at organicmaps.app/donate to support the project!

Beloved institutional sponsors below have provided targeted grants to cover some infrastructure costs and fund development of new selected features:

The Search & Fonts improvement project has been funded through NGI0 Entrust Fund. NGI0 Entrust Fund is established by the NLnet Foundation with financial support from the European Commission's Next Generation Internet programme, under the aegis of DG Communications Networks, Content and Technology under grant agreement No 101069594.
Google backed 5 student's projects in the Google Summer of Code program during 2022 and 2023 programs. Noteworthy projects included Android Auto and Wikipedia Dump Extractor.
Mythic Beasts ISP provides us two virtual servers with 400 TB/month of free bandwidth to host and serve maps downloads and updates.
44+ Technologies is providing us with a free dedicated server worth around $12,000/year to serve maps across Vietnam & Southeast Asia.
FUTO has awarded $1000 micro-grant to Organic Maps in February 2023.

The majority of all expenses have been funded by founders of the project since its inception. The project is far from achieving any sort of financial sustainability. The current level of voluntary donations falls significantly short of covering efforts needed to sustain the app. Any new developments of features are beyond the scope of possibility due to the absence of the necessary financial resources.

Please consider donating if you want to see this open-source project thriving, not dying. There are other ways how to support the project. No coding skills required.

Governance

See docs/GOVERNANCE.md.

Contributing

If you want to build the project, check docs/INSTALL.md. If you want to help the project, see docs/CONTRIBUTING.md. You can help in many ways, the ability to code is not necessary.

Beta

Please join our beta program, suggest your features, and report bugs:

Feedback

readme truncated — read the full docs on github

Frequently asked questions

Is Organic Maps free to use?

Organic Maps is open source. There is no licence fee and no seat count — you can self-host it or, where the project offers one, pay a vendor for a managed version instead.

What does Organic Maps do?

Privacy-first offline maps for hiking, cycling & navigation

What is Organic Maps written in?

Organic Maps is primarily written in C++. Its source is publicly available at https://github.com/organicmaps/organicmaps, and it has 15,439 GitHub stars.