Google has updated its Android Maps application with the ability to store offline mapping and location data:
Google has upgraded its Android Maps app so it can provide directions when not connected to the internet. The software also lets devices find businesses' locations, opening hours and telephone numbers while offline. The firm said tourists visiting places outside their mobile subscription plans and people living in emerging markets, where data can be expensive, would be among those who would benefit most.
But one expert said budget-phone owners would now have to juggle data. "Entry-level Android smartphones sometimes only have four gigabytes of onboard storage, making it a precious resource," commented Ben Wood from CCS Insight. [...] Google said downloading most of Greater London would take up 380 megabytes on a device, while storing the San Francisco Bay area would require about 200MB.
It allows you to define a rectangular area specifying the mapping data you want to have available offline. The article mentions that Nokia Maps, now known as Here Maps, has offered a similar feature for years.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Shimitar on Thursday November 12 2015, @10:03AM
While it might seem strange, there is people who don't like "free" and "community". It always boggles me, but i know a couple. They just say that if it's free either i does not work or it has hidden agendas. For these people, anything from Microsoft or Google is much better than something like OSM.
I don't get them, but they exist.
Coding is an art. No, java is not coding. Yes, i am biased, i know, sorry if this bothers you.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 12 2015, @03:53PM
That is when you empasize that if is Free as in Freedom, not price.
They are probably trusting the price system to tell them how much something is worth.
Of course, Google maps are "free" as in beer, so I dunno.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 13 2015, @02:40AM
They would be correct in some instances. For example, corporate interests "outing" Firefox's former CEO, who championed online freedom, as a homophobe, and having him replaced with someone who integrated DRM into the browser and forced closed-source software into the browser, such as the Pocket social network [the-digital-reader.com]. Then there's the RedHat developer who single-handedly took over all of the init process on modern Linux systems so that RedHat could leverage their "support" model.