The most common thing I'd want to do with location information is display it on a map. For instance, I'd love to use this to help coordinate meeting up with someone, so that we could each see each other on a map. I'd also like the client-encrypted private historical record for a variety of purposes; everything from "what path did we walk on that romantic evening?" to the mundane "where did we park?" or "where did I leave my phone?". All of those need map integration, and that map integration needs to not compromise the privacy properties of the location service. That would be well worth paying for.

The issue is that I wouldn't want to use a separate mapping application for that. I don't want to use Google Maps for directions/navigation/restaurants/etc, and a separate app for location sharing. I also don't want Google Maps to have my location information/history. I'd pay for an all-encompassing map service with this feature, and privacy would motivate me to happily pay for that even though Google Maps is "free".

But I can't honestly say I'd pay for just the location feature if I still have to use a different (and non-privacy-preserving) mapping service for everything else. If I can have a single "Maps" application on my device, and that application preserves privacy, I'd love to pay for that; if that app also has location sharing, that's even better.

Messaging or Signal integration would be for the same kind of "meet up" purpose: send someone a link that gives them time-bounded access to a subset of location information (most commonly live information about current location).

I see. Thanks for the follow up.

Yeah, I'd happily pay for a privacy preserving mapping app as well. While building this, I felt the need for such a service, and as I pondered it, I felt overwhelmed by the effort to bring such a thing to market. It would also need a significant amount of notoriety to get people to contribute by updating business and city information. The other challenge is that Google Maps is just SO GOOD! I realize it's not great for privacy reasons, but it's simply so easy to use and useful. That's a high threshold of quality and functionality for a new entrant in the mapping space to achieve. That's not even taking into consideration that this new entrant would be charging for something that Google gives away for free, and has had years to perfect. We can see an example of this struggle with Apple Maps.

> send someone a link that gives them time-bounded access to a subset of location information (most commonly live information about current location).

You might be happy to know that that functionality is already present in the app. :-) Simply click the floating action button at the bottom right of the main screen of the app, and a timed sharing dialog will appear. Toggle the switch to turn it on, and your location will be broadcasted to a drop box that can only be accessed by the key encoded in a URL that you can copy or share to any app (Signal or otherwise). You can adjust the expiration time of the link based as well. It's particularly useful if you're running late to a meeting and you're stuck in traffic, and you want to let the person you're meeting know where you are in real time.

I think you absolutely built the right product to start with! I'm not the right customer for the MVP, but you should absolutely seek out customers who are and talk to them. And as you expand the map functionality, you'll reach more customers.

Like the sibling comment says, Open Street Map is your friend. Several options exists to host your own map service based on that data, eg https://openmaptiles.org/

Team up with Open Street Maps.