Mapy.com vs Waze
Mapy.com is a European alternative to Waze: same use case, headquartered in Czech Republic and governed by EU GDPR, while Waze is based in the United States.
By the EU Alternatives team Last updated
Explore detailed world maps, find hiking and cycling trails, and plan routes for any journey. Offers comprehensive mapping for cities and towns globally.
- Jurisdiction
- EU / EEA
- Primary privacy law
- EU GDPR
- US CLOUD Act exposure
- No
- Open source
- No
- Free tier
- Yes
Waze routes around jams using reports from other drivers, and that community layer is genuinely hard to replicate: hazards, police and closures appear faster than on any map waiting for sensor data. Use is free, paid for by ads shown while you drive. Google bought it in 2013, so trips are logged in the United States.
- Jurisdiction
- United States
- GDPR by default
- Requires DPA + TIA
- US CLOUD Act exposure
- Yes
Mapy.com vs Waze at a glance
| Mapy.com | Waze | |
|---|---|---|
| Headquarters | Czech Republic | United States |
| Data jurisdiction | EU / EEA | United States |
| Primary privacy law | EU GDPR | Requires DPA + transfer assessment |
| US CLOUD Act exposure | No | Yes |
| Best for | Teams that need this built for European data-protection requirements | Teams already invested in the Waze ecosystem |
Choose Mapy.com if…
- You want a provider governed by a European privacy regime
- GDPR or public-sector data-protection requirements apply to you
- You want to start free and scale up later
- You'd rather back the European tech ecosystem
Stick with Waze if…
- You depend on integrations only available in the Waze ecosystem
- Your organisation has no EU data-residency constraints
- Migration costs outweigh the jurisdiction benefits for now
About Mapy.com
Mapy.com makes outdoor route planning feel closer to reading a walking map than navigating a list of businesses. Its hiking and cycling cartography is the main attraction, with paths and terrain presented for people heading beyond city streets. The service also offers offline maps, useful when a planned trip takes a phone out of coverage.
The map portal dates to 1998, with its mobile application following in 2011. A logged-in account connects saved information and subscription features. Premium planning tools add activity-specific routes and personal walking or riding speeds, so estimated journey times can reflect the person making the trip. Offline downloads need advance preparation and enough storage on the device.
Key benefits:
- Outdoor cartography makes hiking and cycling routes easier to inspect before departure.
- Free offline country supplies downloadable maps for one chosen country, including regions.
- Premium offline maps remove the country limit for downloading maps before travel.
- Personal pace settings adapt Premium time estimates to individual walking or cycling speeds.
- Activity-specific planning adds Premium routes for running, gravel bikes and other activities.
- Saved route notes help Premium users record details and mark completed trips.
Mapy.com is operated by Seznam.cz, a.s., registered in Prague, Czech Republic. That places the operator in the EU, but the account and mapping service still process personal information. Its Czech origin should not be read as a promise of anonymous location use or an entirely open source application.
The free version allows one offline country at a time, which can be changed for a holiday. An annual Premium subscription expands that allowance and adds planning features. Frequent travellers get the most from the paid tier; occasional walkers can start with the free maps.
Why choose Mapy.com over Waze?
The decisive argument is data jurisdiction. Waze is headquartered in the United States, which means personal data processed through it can be subject to non-EU legal regimes: the US CLOUD Act, FISA 702, or similar laws depending on the provider. After the 2020 Schrems II ruling, EU organisations must carry out a transfer impact assessment for every such data flow.
Mapy.com removes that overhead. As a Czech Republic-based provider, it operates under EU GDPR, and data stays inside the EU/EEA by default. For regulated sectors such as health, public administration, and finance, that's not a nice-to-have but a requirement. For everyone else, it's concentration-risk insurance: you avoid depending on a single jurisdiction that can change the rules without warning.