This article was published on June 6, 2012

Google launching Offline Maps for Android mobile users


Google launching Offline Maps for Android mobile users

Google today announced that it is bringing offline maps to Android phones. This should allow you to navigate by pre-loading maps to mobile devices.

Its maps will be available offline for Android users in more than 100 countries in the next few weeks. The minimum size of an offline map is around 50MB, but some samples will be smaller. It’s probably best that you download them before leaving the house, for sure.

Offline files should be large enough to cover a metropolitan area. Google says the offline service can provide a map about the size of the San Francisco Bay Area and that the detail will come down to street level. The ‘blue dot’ will still follow you using your device’s GPS unit.

This should help commuters in the underground or places where there is poor cellular coverage quite a bit. It could also assist users in not going over their data caps by pre-loading maps to their devices.

 

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