Frustrations with mapping software

[Nutz]

Today as my friend was driving his car, I decided to take my Transformer to see well the GPS worked inside a car - it worked very well! However some mapping software/sat nav seem to need a wireless connection to get the maps which defeats the object!

Are there any maps apps that either save the maps or cache them i.e. don't require a wifi active connection?

 

[kayst]

You can now save areas in google maps. Menu/ labs/ download map area. No nav tho.

 

[busted bones]

That does seem like someone didnt quite think that part through. I know verizons version of navigation stores all the maps on the mobile device. I dont know if you can navigate without a data connection however.

 

[mihaelb]

I believe MapQuest stores the maps on your SD card.

 

[AutobahnSHO]

Copilot will save maps and do nav. It's a paid app, I have NOT tried it.

Mapdroyd works well for maps and GPS, and is free, but doesn't do nav. (I do use this one some.)

 

[archercc]

Youre gonna have to buy one of the $100 map applications to get full offline navitgation right now. The Google option (which is free and built in) needs signal to initiate the route but then can work from then on without it.

Id save my money though, I cant see it taking much longer. In the past 6 months Google has been laying the foundation for full offline navigation. First they enabled offline caching of the route you picked and then they added this map tile option. I would think the next logical step would be to leverage those features to allow offline navigation.

 

[AutobahnSHO]

Copilot is highly rated and is only $5.

 

[chimphappyhour]

It's actually $10 now and last time I tried it, well, I couldn't tell you how it was as the maps never loaded. This was back when we had the more generous refund time so I kept trying until I was getting close to the window and refunded. Can't say I'd be one to try it again. If you look at the ratings, there are high amounts of five and four but there's also a high amount of one. I do believe I left one of the one star ratings myself.

 

[rmp5s]

I personally have a very easy solution to this problem: I'll just turn my phone into an ap. I was weary of getting a wifi only tablet in the beginning, then this dawned on me. I have a hacked Galaxy S that can do wireless AP tethering as well as USB tethering for free. If you've got an Android phone, you should be in the money.

I know it won't be a solution for everyone but maybe it's something else to try.

 

[Gunner]

CoPilot is the way to go if you just need occasional offline mapping. I have it on both my phone & TF as a backup solution to GMaps.