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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: 1) by driverless on Friday November 13 2015, @01:58AM
2. Google Maps already had this feature for ages. Yes they kept masking it to the point of making it unfindable from one version to the other, but still i used it a few times in the last years (yes, YEARS).
That was my reaction to the post as well, haven't they had this for ages? Admittedly it sucks so badly it's basically unusable (I spent a day wandering around Paris without a map thanks to Google's "offline" mode, luckily I found a paper map in a tourist place). Then I discovered Nokia's "Here" maps, and have never looked back. It's actually fully functional in offline mode, I've replaced Google maps with it as my default mapping app.
If anyone has other suggestions I'd be happy to look at them, I just found Here so much better than Google's app that I didn't look much further.