Text-Based Google Directions
Shares rank 10 of 12 navigation apps by recommenders
A lightweight site that shows Google directions as plain text with minimal design, which commenters say is much needed.
A lightweight site that shows Google directions as plain text with minimal design, which commenters say is much needed.
5 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 1 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 1 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Minimal, highly compressible design
“The site design is highly compressible and text is kept to a minimum”
Comment from 25 Feb 2026 in “Text-Based Google Directions” Fills a clearly needed gap
“Very Nice, this is very much needed”
Comment from 25 Feb 2026 in “Text-Based Google Directions”
Other navigation apps people recommend
The four most recommended other navigation apps, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Maps | 272 | 479 | 36% | 12 | 14 yrs4 owners | — |
| Apple Maps | 145 | 206 | 41% | 12 | 9 yrs5 owners | — |
| Waze | 27 | 19 | 59% | 10 | — | — |
| MapQuest | 16 | 14 | 53% | 7 | — | — |
| Text-Based Google DirectionsThis page | 5 | 0 | 100% | 1 | — | — |
What people said
2 of the 5 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“The site design is highly compressible and text is kept to a minimum”
“Very Nice, this is very much needed”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.