Help How to make Google Maps work in Galaxy Ace?

[Chrisff60]

Hi, all,

I live in India, and I purchased my Galaxy Ace one month back and it has been a great buy. I spent Rs. 15,200, which is about $340 USD. This is only my third phone because I don't like spending and it is my first Android and I have to say so far it has been excellent. Great interface, totally customizable, minimal lag when running games or programs, great to hold, etc. Drawbacks are that the camera could have been better, still and video. Other than that, no issues whatsoever. And the Android market is a godsend!

Since it is my first Android, the first two weeks were spent combing the Market for apps and games that I fancied. And pretty soon, even my basic 8GB card was close to full. A few tweaks here and there and I think I have got the phone customized to where I want it. I haven't rooted the phone yet because I don't know how to do it, and more importantly I don't know if I'll gain a significant advantage by doing it.

Here are a few of the programs I use. Please feel free to mention ones that you think are better.
-Pictures: QuickPic (light, fast, feels better than default app)
-Music: Mixzing (way better than the default app, easy to use)
-Video: Mixzing, Arc Video (again, way better than default app)
-Battery: Juice Defender (amazing app! increased battery life anywhere from twice as much to four times as much!)
-Others: I tried GO Launcher and Go SMS, and though these were great, they took a toll on the RAM and I decided that I wasn't gaining all that much from those apps and installed them.

I won't mention the games because there are too many of them, but all of the Angry Birds, Paradise Island, Copycat, and a whole lot of others.

Now, here is my question:
I travel a lot on my bike on the weekends and I like to go 'off the beaten track.' Now, I used my mom's iPhone for the GPS until now but since I have my Ace, I figure this should do the trick. But I have been facing problems while testing it in the city.
1. Basically, how do you make google maps work?
2. In the settings, if I turn GPS on, shouldn't that be enough?
3. Do I need to turn packet data on?
4. Maps works when the EDGE signal is flashing ('E' with two opposing arrows under it), however, I realized that when I used it this way, my balance went down by Rs 50 in a matter of minutes. Is this normal?
5. How can I access maps without incurring data charges?
6. Do I need to pre-load the destination on Maps to access it via GPS later? ie. sit at home, access maps via WiFi and then it should work later?

BTW GPRS has been activated, once when I turned the phone on for the first time, again when I called Vodafone to do it again. But just to be safe, is there any way to check is GPRS has indeed been enabled? And I am using Google Maps 5.0, downloaded from the Market.

Any help will be greatly appreciated as the GPS is the only issue I am facing.

Thanks in advance,
Chris.

 

[error974]

To use navigation without costs u need to download some other softwre for navigation, not google maps. Try to find Igo, Ndrive or something like that.

 

[chismay]

to see if your gs is active and locked..there should be a small satalite icon next to the battery icon in the top status bar.

i really think anyone with a smart phone needs a "unlimited internet access data plan". using google maps just on gps is....well.....slow and probably wont work, it does..its just very slow as gps rate is only like 80kbs, if you have a 3g or equivalent data network, see if they have a add-on option like 3 do , i pay

 

[Chrisff60]

Thanks, error, and chis, will try both solutions. Didn't know that GPS was so slow, data-wise. And sadly, we still haven't got 3G plans in my city but I will get the unlimited data plan activated ASAP and then check it out. The GPS icon does lock on, after a while, but I'm wondering if when the EDGE icon comes on and starts flashing, does it eat into my mobile bill as well. It did the last few days

 

[timlitw]

Google maps will cache some of the map but it still downloads data as you go if you get to an ucached area.

If you want to have the map already on the phone you need another map and for india OSM might be a good choice. If it isn't you can edit it and make it better. Here is a link to mapdroid
True offline maps for your Android - unplugged ! | MapDroyd
You'll have to see if it works on your device.

 

[makireddy]

Hi,

I am using Samsung Galaxy Ace.
I would like to know how to use GPS Navigation when Wifi is not available.

I have GPRS enabled. I could browse through websites using GPRS connection but not able to use Google Maps or GPS Navigation using GPRS connection.

I am able to use GPS Navigation or Maps without any issues if I use Wifi at home or office.

Please guide me if there are any settings need to be changed or enabled.

Regards,

 

[praky]

Which city you are in?
MapDroyd has opensource maps which basically sucks for India at the moment.

Google maps will work good on 2G plans. 3G even when available is too costly in India.
With google maps you can try a 'lab' feature and cache a preselected area onto you phone for offline navigation.

One other option will be to use Maverick (or bigPlanet). You can download google maps of any area using these apps. Though using PC to download maps will be way too faster (mobile atlas creator is used).

Your other option will be to use 'sygic' which uses Mapmyindia v6.0 maps.

Hope that helps.

 

[makireddy]

I would like to know how to use GPS Navigation with GPRS connection.

 

[krishmukh]

Galaxy Ace comes loaded with google map, but you will need a data connect (GPRS or WiFi) to connect to the net. You can view maps and get directions with this. On top of this, for navigation and location related services, you need GPS. The problem I faced was - despite having good GPRS connection, the system continued to complain - 'Your location is temporarily not available'. It just couldn't make it work.

After searching for a while, I found some nice posts, suggestion installation of free android application "GPS status". I tried the suggested application. It was very slow to lock with GPS when tried from indoor, but in the open space, it could lock in less than a minute. I didn't have to try all the elaborate steps mentioned in this post (e.g. remove the SIM, reboot, etc.) - once it locked with some 6-8 satellites, I returned to the map, and this time there was no problem in finding the location. I was in a cab, I kept the map opened as I roamed through Bangalore roads. Experience was great, and the localization instant and accurate. Ever since, Maps have worked on my phone.