Caching Google Maps to Use Offline

[devin]

I don't currently have a data plan. Since I'm on WiFi 95% of the time, I don't plan on getting one. The only thing I haven't been able to do easily (without a data plan) is use Google Maps while driving/walking.

If I load the maps before leaving a WiFi hotspot, my location is tracked and I can pan around the map. Of course, as soon as I want to view another uncached portion of the map, I can't.

Maps are small, and it would be perfect if I could cache maps for a certain area - say everything within 100 mi of my house. Any ideas?


Thanks!

 

[carlosnumbertwo]

I doubt highly that will ever happen with gmaps. It is so tethered to the web. But its only a matter of time (after the market can start charging you) that we will see something with turn based directions and a map library; something like TomTom for windows mobile.

 

[devin]

I doubt highly that will ever happen with gmaps. It is so tethered to the web. But its only a matter of time (after the market can start charging you) that we will see something with turn based directions and a map library; something like TomTom for windows mobile.

Yeah, you're probably right. It would be nice to have a local gmaps library, because there are many apps that integrate with gmaps.

 

[zeitinfarkt]

Hi,
why don't you just check out if MapDroyd is the right application for you. MapDroyd is a free, true off-line map viewer for Android phones. It uses content from OpenStreetMap and provides maps for the whole world.
Cheers

 

[itsmoirob]

Hi,
why don't you just check out if MapDroyd is the right application for you. MapDroyd is a free, true off-line map viewer for Android phones. It uses content from OpenStreetMap and provides maps for the whole world.
Cheers

Thanks for the heads up on that.

I've just been looking through the info on the website but can't find an answer to something I'm looking for, perhaps I overlooked it, can you help?

Can you download the maps to an SD card in your phone or does it need to use the phones memory?

 

[zeitinfarkt]

Thanks for the heads up on that.

I've just been looking through the info on the website but can't find an answer to something I'm looking for, perhaps I overlooked it, can you help?

Can you download the maps to an SD card in your phone or does it need to use the phones memory?

Since there's no way to store maps - of even small countries - on the phone memory MapDroyd uses your external storage (SD card) in order to store and load the map files from. The larger your SD card capacity is the more maps you can have with you.

 

[itsmoirob]

Thanks you for clearing that up, it's good to hear.
Due to android not reading apps from an SD card I was worried that the maps would need to be stored on the phones memory, using it all up.

 

[dkaufman1]

@zeitinfarkt - thanks for the link...this looks great!

Cyrket - MapDroyd
Cyrket - ContentDroyd


In the comments for these apps I found:
Cyrket - RMaps
Cyrket - BigPlanet
Cyrket - BigPlanet DEMO

Seems like we have an Offline Mapping Showdown!

MapDroyd vs. Rmaps vs. BigPlanet

Post your reviews in this thread!

 

[Carl C]

AndNav2 has the facility to store maps offline too

 

[dkaufman1]

AndNav2 has the facility to store maps offline too

I could only find v1 - Cyrket - AndNav1 - Beta2

 

[zeitinfarkt]

@zeitinfarkt - thanks for the link...this looks great!

Cyrket - MapDroyd
Cyrket - ContentDroyd


In the comments for these apps I found:
Cyrket - RMaps
Cyrket - BigPlanet
Cyrket - BigPlanet DEMO

Seems like we have an Offline Mapping Showdown!

MapDroyd vs. Rmaps vs. BigPlanet

Post your reviews in this thread!

Yes, as you say there're lot of activities in this area. Other than the application you mention, MapDroyd does _not_ cache any map tiles like RMap does. It stores OSM (whole) vector maps on your local device (sd card) and does not cache map images.

 

[Carl C]

I could only find v1 - Cyrket - AndNav1 - Beta2

Cykret is not showing AndNav2 but trust me it is on the Market! Have a look via your phone

By the way , anyone notice "Google search by voice" doesn't appear on Cykret either but it's definitely on the Market.

Carl C

 

[dkaufman1]

Cykret is not showing AndNav2 but trust me it is on the Market! Have a look via your phone

By the way , anyone notice "Google search by voice" doesn't appear on Cykret either but it's definitely on the Market.

Carl C

Not for me in the US on Tmobile.

 

[dkaufman1]

@zeitinfarkt - thanks for the link...this looks great!

Cyrket - MapDroyd
Cyrket - ContentDroyd


In the comments for these apps I found:
Cyrket - RMaps
Cyrket - BigPlanet
Cyrket - BigPlanet DEMO

Seems like we have an Offline Mapping Showdown!

MapDroyd vs. Rmaps vs. BigPlanet

Post your reviews in this thread!

Map Droyd doesn't seem to want to work. I tried a few times to download the 18MB file to my sd card that I needed with the Content Droyd app. No dice.

Anyone else try these?

 

[KlaymenDK]

I've had great success with the MapDroyd (incl. ContentDroyd); I've downloaded maps for Denmark, Sweden, Germany and Austria, and all the locations I know well seem to be fully represented -- in fine detail. However some of those maps take half an eternity to download, I'll give you that.

I briefly tried RMaps, but uninstalled it again for some reason I can't remember.

 

[mjschmidt]

I installed Mapdroid and Contentdroid, and DLed the map for Ontario. I notice it's kinda slow. Still playing with it.

 

[reason930]

I use "TrekBuddy Atlas Creator" on PC for downloading maps and use "RMaps" to view the maps on my Hero.
It works great~~

 

[wakela]

Will any of these allow me to import a map created with Google maps?

 

[reason930]

Will any of these allow me to import a map created with Google maps?

RMaps supports .tar and .sqlitedb maps created by SAS.Planet and TrekBuddy Atlas Creator respectively.
Both support Google Map and OpenStreetMap if I remember correctly.

 

[josemas]

Hi all;

Have you seen this?

OruxMaps

regards,

jose

 

[flowersinlondon]

Does any of these offline applications provide directions from a to b and also track me as I am travelling? Like how tom-tom does.

 

[dkaufman1]

Hi all;

Have you seen this?

OruxMaps

regards,

jose

Awesome. I had not seen that. Thank you. I am curious of your review of it.

 

[caretaker]

I used TrekBuddy atlas creator on google map but was unable to make the zoom beyond 17x.

Is there any way to view zoom over google map at 18x or more???

 

[jjarvis0007]

I am totally lost on how to download offline maps to my phone. I have oruxmaps and trekbuddy atlas creator on my pc and can't figure out how to create a map and download it to my phone to use offline. NEED HELP!?!

 

[Fatal Exception]

I too am interested in this. I'm going on Holiday in a few weeks and don't want to use data to view maps.