# Vela FAQ Short answers to what people actually ask. Longer detail lives in [PRIVACY.md](../PRIVACY.md), [README](../README.md) and [SPEC.md](../SPEC.md). For the rule-by-rule version of any answer here - what decides which places show, when the data is rebuilt, how the camera avoidance picks a route - see [the book](book/README.md). ## Are the shops and restaurants on the map Google's? Not by default. Settings > Places > "Places come from" has three choices: - **Vela data** (the default): the businesses on the map come from open data baked into Vela's own map files, plus the shops mapped in OpenStreetMap. Panning around asks Google nothing, and in a downloaded region it works with no connection. - **Google**: the map's businesses come from Google, fetched once each time you stop panning. - **Both**: Vela's data draws the map and one Google request tops it up with whatever it lacks. Where the two describe the same shop, Google's pin wins, because its coordinate is usually the storefront. Whichever you pick, **searching** and **tapping a place for its hours, reviews and photos** still go to Google, unless you are offline in a downloaded region or have turned on "Use Vela without Google" (below). Settings > Places > "Look up tapped places on Google" turns off the lookup for places tapped on the map on its own: the sheet then shows what the open data carries (name, type, address, and often phone and hours). ## What does each part of the app actually use? | What you see | Where it comes from | Reaches Google? | Works offline? | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | The map itself: roads, buildings, labels, house numbers | OpenStreetMap, served as vector tiles by OpenFreeMap, or from a downloaded region | Never | With a downloaded region | | Businesses on the map | Vela's baked open data (Overture, AllThePlaces, OpenStreetMap), or Google, or both: your choice | Only in Google or Both mode | Vela data mode, in a downloaded region | | A place's hours, reviews, photos, phone | Google, when you tap the place | Yes | No; the tile's own name, type and address still show, and often its phone and hours | | Suggestions while you type | Google's own autocomplete; the open Photon geocoder too for text that starts with a house number; your recents, saved places and downloaded regions on the phone | Yes (the typed text), when online | Your own history, and addresses in downloaded regions | | Search | Google, when you submit it; offline, Vela's own place and address data for the region | Yes when online | Yes, within a downloaded region | | Dropping a pin, tapping a house number or a building | OpenStreetMap's Nominatim names the spot | Never | The pin still drops, without a street name | | Turn-by-turn routes | The open OSRM router, or OsmAnd-format files on your phone when a region is downloaded; Google's own route only when the open router is down | The route itself, no; planning one also asks Google for traffic (next row) | Yes, with a downloaded region | | Live traffic and arrival times | Google | Yes | No; you still get a route and a free-flow estimate | | Re-routes while driving | The open router, with Google asked in parallel for traffic; the phone's own data when there is no signal | Yes, your current position (as long as Google is on) | Yes | | Speed limits, traffic lights, stop signs, level crossings | OpenStreetMap, baked per region | Never | Yes | | Surveillance and speed cameras | OpenStreetMap and DeFlock, bundled or baked | Never | Yes | | Transit departures | Transitous, an open GTFS service; the stop's Google page where Transitous has no coverage | Only for that fallback | The last board seen at a stop, marked with its time | | Transit directions | Google | Yes | No | | Satellite view (off by default) | Esri World Imagery; Google's imagery for close zoom where Esri has none | Only those close-ups | No | | Traffic overlay (off by default) | Google's traffic tiles | Yes, while it is on | No | | Street View | Google | Yes | No | There is no Vela server anywhere in that table, no account and no telemetry of Vela's own. The exact requests, service by service, are in [PRIVACY.md](../PRIVACY.md). ## Can I use Vela without Google at all? Yes. **Settings > Privacy > "Use Vela without Google"** turns off every request to a Google host in one go: places on the map come from Vela's own data, search uses OpenStreetMap and the regions you have downloaded, routes come from the open router, and nothing else asks Google either (no Street View, no traffic overlay, no satellite close-ups, no transit directions, no reviews or photos). Download the region you live in under Settings > Offline maps and the map, search, addresses, routing and navigation all work with no signal too. What you keep: the map, search by name and address, turn-by-turn navigation with voice, speed limits, cameras, stop signs and lights, transit departure boards wherever Transitous covers the stop, saved places and offline routing. One exception you can turn off: a short Google Maps link someone sends you (`maps.app.goo.gl/...`) only says where it points when Google's link shortener is asked. Vela asks it once, with no cookies, then opens the place with the open sources. Switch off **"Open shared Google Maps links"** under the same setting to refuse those links instead. Shared lists can't open without Google either way. What you lose: reviews, photos, opening hours, live traffic and its arrival times, Street View, transit directions, the satellite close-ups, and the long tail of businesses that only Google knows about. The four individual toggles the older recipe used (Places come from, Look up tapped places, Live traffic re-checks, the traffic overlay) still exist; the switch does not change them, it sits above them. ## Why is a shop missing, or in the wrong place? In Vela data mode the businesses come from open datasets, and they are not perfect. Two things are worth knowing: - **A shop pinned in the parking lot** usually means the source put it at the middle of the property rather than at its door. Vela prefers OpenStreetMap's position when the same shop is mapped there, so fixing it in OpenStreetMap fixes it in Vela, and in every other map that uses OSM. - **A missing shop** is a gap in the data, not a filter. Adding it to OpenStreetMap is the durable fix. Switching to Both mode fills the gap immediately from Google. ## Why does the app talk to Google at all? A phone with no Google Play Services cannot run Google Maps, and the open datasets fall short on search, reviews, hours and live traffic. Vela asks Google's public web endpoints the same way a logged-out browser does: no account, no API key, no server in the middle. The full breakdown of what each request carries is in [PRIVACY.md](../PRIVACY.md). ## What is marked "experiment"? Settings label experiments plainly, and they are off by default. Today that means "Tap places while driving" (Settings > Navigation). It works, but it is newer and rougher than the rest. The Google-style route picker used to be here; it is the default now, and Settings > Navigation > "Google-style route picker" turns it off for the classic panel. ## Does Vela work on a phone with no Google services? That is what it is for. It runs on GrapheneOS, CalyxOS, /e/OS and any other de-Googled Android, with no Play Services and no microG. ## Where do updates come from? GitHub releases, through Obtainium, the F-Droid repo or a manual APK. There is a weekly stable channel and a nightly one (plus a canary channel for testers, in the in-app updater only); the in-app updater follows whichever you pick under Settings > About > "Update channel". Every channel is signed with the same key, so switching never needs a reinstall.