This app was mentioned in 15 comments, with an average of 3.67 upvotes
Tomtom has a really good app with "navigation, offline maps, traffic & speed camera alerts". Tomtom has also promises never to sell user data, so it's a great option for those looking to degoogle!
But Google hasn't. And if they did, you still have Apple Maps, or half a dozen other options for directions, including dedicated GPS's and those manufacturer's respective apps. TomTom for example, which was a reputable GPS company has an android app available.
NoRootFirewall.
But yes, I do force Location off entirely until I need it.
How accurate is this data? Is it narrowed to Suburb only? If so, there's a good chance it's coming from the Celular Tower data, and has 0 impact from your GPS signal.
Your service provider can triangulate you (roughly) anywhere, assuming 3 towers are in range (and they do!).
If you're curious you can ask them for a travel map and they'll show you every location and time you've been to a place via Triangulation :)
Really though, I just uninstall Google services, and go with other apps.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tomtom.gplay.navapp&hl=en
Everyone is different. I personally bought a tablet from amazon (Samsung Tab A7 lite) and use the Tomtom go navigation app (it has a HGV setting). I've been using it for years, has live traffic, can select different routes, allows you to enter vehicle height, ADR, finds fuel stations for etc etc.
You have to pay for it. It costs £8,99 a month, (or £2.25 a week) which is nothing,
Plus when you are on a loading bay /break POA you can use it to watch Netflix, check emails and so on.
Tablet I use Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite 8.7 Inch Wi-Fi Android Tablet 32 GB Grey https://amzn.eu/c7tsRlR
And the tomtom app https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tomtom.gplay.navapp
You may be right. I cannot find a Bing map application for use on Android. And the Microsoft Bing app uses Google Maps for mapping and directions (whether this is because Google forces it or not I do not know).
There seem to be other apps that don't use Google Maps - like TomTom GPS at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tomtom.gplay.navapp and CoPilot GPS Navigation & Traffic at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.alk.copilot.mapviewer - so I am not convinced that Google restricts all map usage to only Google Maps for apps in the Google Play store.
This is a case where you are free to pick the app that best does what you're looking for. I felt the same way, here in Akihabara which is where I learned that paying for TomTom GPS is worth every coin spent when you travel as much as I do and can't afford to be turned around.
I'm talking out my ass now, but I think Google Maps is able to push out features based on aggregate data and UI interaction which could cut down programming hours needed to push out tweaks, making it cheaper to deploy improvements, while keeping the app free.
If the OP wants more concise navigation, then you need someone to go in there and program the logic carefully to deliver that precision. It may take Google Maps team a while to push that out since it depends on data collection to do that, but if you paid someone to actively go in there and do it: it should be clear which one saves you time. At that point, just pay for a premium solution and get it over with.
>I have to use a separate app (TomTom) which acts as an overlay over my Google maps when I want driving directions
That's one I've never heard of before. Sounds interesting.
Is it this TomTom app you're referring to? And what sort of information does it display on the overlay? Speed Limits?
TomTom makes an android version:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tomtom.gplay.navapp
I'm not familiar with others, but if the app takes up a good amount of storage on your phone, it most likely won't require data. The only thing the tomtom gps app uses data for is traffic updates or searching points of interest via a built in search engine.
Yes, I've been testing https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tomtom.gplay.navapp for months (downloaded from the Italian Play Store) and, even before the latest version 1.4.1, preferred it for driving to both Google Maps and HERE.
This one doesn't use internet: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tomtom.gplay.navapp
And is good (only used a few times though).
'TomTom Go' is available on Android.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tomtom.gplay.navapp
I'd also like to see support in AutoMate for TomTom GO Mobile a.k.a. 'TomTom GPS Navigation Traffic', /u/peeeanuts (currently at version 1.4 and recently expanded beyond the Italian Play Store, although still in few countries: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tomtom.gplay.navapp / https://en.discussions.tomtom.com/tomtom-go-mobile-and-navigation-for-android-156/tomtom-go-mobile-now-available-for-download-more-countries-974987 / http://tomtom.com/19212 ).
TomTom Go as its got live traffic and speed cameras
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tomtom.gplay.navapp
But google maps for free its quite good too, with live traffic