Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Offline Google Maps

Offline Google Maps:
Have you used it already? I did not until last week. I had heard about it somewhere, but when I was disconnected from internet for multiple days, i realized how difficult it was. As soon as I got internet i found how to use it offline on mobile.
Just in case you need it as well:
1. Open maps app and click on the side bar(3 horizontal lines at the left top)
2. Select 'Offline Areas' option,
3. Select the '+' at the bottom right
4. choose an area. you can choose a very big area and download,
Note:
1. But it has a limitation, For eg. it cant get the whole of TN in one offline area, so i did choose multiple offline areas that collectively covered the entire TN.
2. The download size would be easily more than 100/200 mb, it will infact show the estimated data size when you select the area. So do this when you are on good internet speed and be aware of how much it will cost you, home wifi might be a good option
3. Please remember that GPS will work without internet, so now anywhere you roam around TN with maps navigation offline, ofcourse no live traffic data.
4. Offline areas have an expiry timeline of 30 days. You have to update them.
Until now I used to frequent switching on and off internet on my phone whenever i traveled by car to make sure i dont lose much battery and it costed me unnecessary data cost as well. What a shame!!! Better late than never.


Edit:
It seems this feature was released only last month,  rolled out 10th of Nov, 2015  https://googleblog.blogspot.in/2015/11/navigate-and-search-real-world-online.html