Platform(s), such as mobile, website, API, other: mobile (Android)
URLs (aka web addresses) of any pages, if relevant: N/A
Description of need: In the iNaturalist app (at least its Android version) it is not possible to use OpenStreetMap as a background map; only Google Maps are available. In the desktop (website) version, OSM are available.
As OSM are quite often much more detailed, more correct and community-driven, it would be great to have to possibility to use OSM maps in the app as well.
I just tried because I thought it might be available in iNat next but you can only switch between Google’s Aerial and Basemap.
I’m not opposed but this won’t be happening for the current legacy mobile apps. Perhaps at some point after iNaturalist Next’s hard launch we can start considering it.
EDIT: also, keep in mind that it’s free for us to use Google Maps for Android devices and Apple Maps for Apple devices. OSM does have a limit for map tile usage and can cut us off at any time.
Thanks for opening the request. I agree it would be a great addition as I have frequently wished to be able to switch to OSM to be able to place an observation more precisely thanks to OSM often having more detailed and up to date data.
For reference, here is the GitHub issue for the legacy Android app.
I would like to add one point: On de-googled phones (I have a Fairphone) there is no google maps and some of the map features in the app don’t actually work at all, as they seem to rely on the google application.
It used to be an issue just for nerds, but given the current political climate and the mistrust in Google, this is becoming a bigger issue in Europe.
I’ve just run into this issue myself after switching to GrapheneOS for my mobile device. Suddenly iNaturalist’s app isn’t very functional at all. Too bad.
It would be nice if there were workarounds, for example uploading an observation using your current GPS coordinates even without access to a map. Would be far from ideal, but might help in the relatively common case of photographing something right in front of you.
Luckily at this point I mostly take photos with dedicated cameras and upload them through the website, but it’s still an annoyance for cases where I want to make observations on my phone, which isn’t infrequent.