Thank you everyone for considering adding CoMaps to PrivacGuides!
At this point, CoMaps and Organic Maps functionality is exactly same for just about everything. A number of features have already been added to CoMaps. And CoMaps is moving quickly, so with time it will continue to diverge.
The concern with Organic Maps:
- Code was being hidden even though the project is intended to be open-source, which can potentially raise privacy concerns
- The project website says “No ads“ but a Kayak ad was added and even after a big community outrage, it was not removed
- The project is positioned as “community-driven”, but a number of decisions were made where the community was not included or even aware
- There is a risk of the project being sold with profits from contributor work going into pockets of shareholders
The vast majority of contributors have moved to CoMaps and the project is progressing rapidly. See development activity on Codeberg, out of 260,000 projects, CoMaps is already #8 by number of stars.
The financing for CoMaps is the same as Organic Maps - donations. All the work is done by volunteers. As donations increase, there will likely be enough to hire people by the end of the year (for context, Organic Maps ran without hiring a person for 3 years)
All financials are available here with full transparency: