PimpinPumpkin / Vela

# Vela Maps
**The best of OpenStreetMap and Google Maps, in one app.**
Live traffic, real place data and turn-by-turn navigation, with no Google account, no Play Services and no Google code on your phone.
Install · What you get · Docs · FAQ · The book · Privacy · How it works · Build · Discussions · Translate
> [!warning]
> **Vela is in beta, so you may run into bugs.** If you do, open an issue and fill out the
> template. Nightlies and canary builds are newer still and less tested than the weekly stable.
An open-source Google Maps alternative for Android: *what NewPipe is to
YouTube, for Google Maps.* The map is open data. The basemap is open vector tiles (OpenStreetMap), and
the places on it are **Vela data**: Overture Maps and AllThePlaces, positioned
with OpenStreetMap, baked into tiles in this repo and streamed from its
releases. Just panning around the map never asks Google anything. Search, tap a place or
ask for a route, and the phone itself asks Google's public web endpoints, with
no account, no key and no server in between, for what only Google does well:
search, hours, reviews, photos, and routes that know about traffic and closed
roads. Built for degoogled phones such as GrapheneOS, and it runs on stock
Android too.
## What reaches Google, by default
**It is not a Google Maps wrapper.** Vela is a native Android app drawing open vector tiles
(Jetpack Compose and MapLibre). There is no Google SDK in it, no Play Services, no API key and
nothing to sign in to. It looks like Google Maps on purpose.
| What you do | What reaches Google |
| --- | --- |
| Pan, zoom, browse the map | **Nothing.** Tiles from OpenFreeMap, streets and labels from OpenStreetMap |
| The places drawn on the map | **Nothing, where Vela has place data.** Open data baked in this repo: Overture Maps and AllThePlaces, positioned with OpenStreetMap. Where Vela has none for the area on screen, Google's places are drawn and Google is sent that area |
| Drop a pin, tap a house number | **Nothing.** OpenStreetMap's Nominatim names the spot |
| Read a departure board | **Nothing, for the stops Vela draws from open transit data:** the board comes from Transitous. Where Transitous has no coverage, Vela falls back to the stop's Google page |
| Ask for directions | **Where the trip starts and ends, anonymously.** A driving route is Google's own, so it knows about traffic and closed roads. The turn-by-turn instructions are put on it from OpenStreetMap, by the open OSRM and Valhalla routers, which are sent the same trip. While you drive, Google is asked again when you leave the route and every couple of minutes for traffic; Settings → Navigation turns the second off. Walking and cycling routes come from the open routers (for a walk Google is asked once, and its route used only when it is much shorter). Offline, the route is computed on the phone |
| Type a search | **Your text, anonymously**, like a logged-out browser. Typing sends Google's own autocomplete each time you pause; submi