Google Maps for the Anddroid

[MikeSD]

I have a Galaxy Tab 2 and was waiting for Google Maps to come out with a version that allowed routing by using saved maps (offline).

Google Maps latest release says a new feature allows offline maps and navigation without a data connection. But everytime I try to route or select something like that, it says, "data connection required".

Isn't the latest Google Maps supposed to allow offline routing and navigation? I do see some careful wording that suggests no data connection required "after" a route has begun.

Can google maps do navigation and routing without a data connection? If it can, is there some specific setting to allow it. I have already saved offline maps as required but it's not working. Still getting that "data connection required" popup.

 

[valorian]

I could be wrong here. I think you have to drive the route one time with a data connection. This route is then saved in a cache to use later if you are offline.

 

[BigRedGonzo]

I have been using Google Maps since I got the OG Droid some years ago. In order to navigate from point A to point B with Google Maps without a data connection you have to:

A. Download the map tiles for the area that you will be traveling in.
B. While online, create the route that you plan on traveling and tell it to start Navigation.

Once the above is done, you can disconnect from the internet connection and you are good to go.

Where the change has taken place, and I may be very wrong about this, but I did read it somewhere, in the past, if you got off of your route, Google Maps couldn't get you back on your route, you had to accomplish that on your own. Now, with the new update, if you leave your route, i.e., get detoured, go for a break, etc..., Maps will get you back on track as long as you are still on a downloaded map tile. I have read many complaints about this feature of Google Maps and a lot of folks are anticipating the time when you can download a section of map and navigate anywhere within that area without an internet connection, but that capability has not been included as of yet.

I have a Toshiba Tablet and do not have 3G or 4G on the tablet. I use an app called CoPilot on the tablet because you download the maps and then you don't any type of connection from that point on. CoPilot is about $10 in the Play Store and works very well. It also includes millions of POIs.

Anyway, I babble.

Hope this helped with Maps,
BigRedGonzo

 

[matyash]

And I can't even save map when I online. Devise writes "Offline maps is not available in selected area". (I tried few plases in Ukraine and Russia).
Is somebody know how to avoid this problem?

 

[Harry2]

As I heard, Spain isn't offline available too.

I haven't had success with some areas in Brittany.

Harry

 

[virendra]

Try sygic navigation and download the latest maps in your device and store. Then it only needs GPS and not GPRS.
This is the best app I have seen and though you are not online and go off the track, it computes alternate track in secs and make you reach to your destination properly

 

[MikeSD]

I don't understand the technical challenge on this.

Google Maps have great maps. I can save any area I want on my android. I have GPS. What else is needed? I can't for the life of me figure out what the technical challenge might be for navigating, once you have a map loaded, and GPS turned on. What else is needed?

Say I'm in a 10 square mile area. I have that map saved. My GPS is working. Why must a route be pre-defined? It seems like a simple matter, almost no change at all, to navigate.

The only thing I can think of is that perhaps these maps are just pictures, and don't contain any database records. If that was the case, then their GPS is just kind of a gimic and requires a data connection, to download the actual route data, from a real map database.

This will NEVER sufice as a real GPS program. But I guess it's better than nothing at all. I guess I'll just have to stick to my Garmin. I rarely know where I'm going, until I decide, and that's often after I leave the house. And Google Maps is completely useless, if you are lost, and no data connection.

I have been using two other GPS programs. One is Sygic and the other is GPS Essentials. Sygic uses Tom Tom maps and it quite good. There are a few things I don't like about it. The things I don't like about it I like on GPS Essentials. GPS Essentials has a great dashboard. I find those readouts very useful, in a GPS. But the actual routing isn't great on GPS Essentials. What would be best is a combination of the Sygic and GPS Essentials. GPS Essentials is supposed to be coming out with a version that relies on Google Maps. Can't wait for that to happen, assuming it doesn't have the same limitations as Google Maps (i.e. an active data connection).