Category: Google Maps

In the flurry of updates that happened to not just Google apps but apps in general for Android at the end of last year, one big change came to Google Maps.  The app gained the ability to have offline maps available, something that competitor products had enjoyed for a long while yet for whatever reason, Google had not yet supported it.  That has changed now and in typical Google fashion, they have made it very easy to create offline maps.

Why would you want offline maps?  Simple really.  No matter which carrier you use for your mobile service, you will undoubtedly hit a dead zone where you have no coverage.  I experienced this over Thanksgiving when I drove from my home in Denver to ski in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.  There is a good 50-odd miles stretch that has absolutely no mobile coverage.  I did not have it with Project Fi (which meant there was no T-Mobile or Sprint in the area) and my wife had no coverage on her iPhone with AT&T.  This scenario is exactly where offline maps become important, especially if you know you are going to have to make some road changes to get to your destination but aren’t exactly sure where those are going to happen.

For this How To I’ll show you how easy Google has made it to create offline maps in Google Maps and how the app works with them.

Back in May at Google I/O, the company previewed offline navigation in Google Maps.  With this feature enabled, users would be able to download a map area and get turn-by-turn navigation to their destination even if they have no internet connection on their device.  Now six months later, the company is starting to roll the feature out to users.

You can download an area by searching for a city, county or country, for instance, and tapping “Download” on the resulting place sheet, or by going to “Offline Areas” in the Google Maps menu and tapping on the “+” button. Once downloaded, Google Maps will move into offline mode automatically when it recognizes you’re in a location with spotty service or no connectivity at all. When a connection is found, it will switch back online so you can easily access the full version of Maps, including live traffic conditions for your current route. By default, we’ll only download areas to your device when you are on a Wi-Fi connection to prevent large data fees.

The updated feature is great for those who may be traveling in a rural area where data connectivity is sketchy or for us urban dwellers, we are in a multi-story car park and have no connectivity available.

As everyone has seen by now, Google announced today a new logo and “G” icon for their branding as part of their effort to reflect the different ways the Google services are used.  One key question around the announcement was when we would start seeing that new look on Google Apps for Android.  Apparently, in a matter of hours.

Google Maps is the first Google app for Android that has received the new look and it is part of the new 9.14 build that I wrote about earlier.

Over the course of the past few weeks it seems every team within Google has been pushing out updates to their respective apps. Google Maps is no exception. Last week we saw a minor update roll out, version 9.13 for those keeping score at home, and it looks like version 9.14 is just around the digital corner.

The updates to Google Maps 9.14 really focus on the navigation user experience when you first look for a location and the inclusion of Popular Times. Popular times provides you a chart of when a business tends to be the most busy. It is something Google has been working on for a while now and it is slowly rolling out across their services.

Google Maps for Android – Free – Download Now

The new Navigation UI is certainly something you will notice and I think likely will appreciate.

Google has issued an update to the Google Maps app for Android, bringing with it the ability to send Google Maps search results on your PC to your mobile.  It gives you the best of both worlds: Search on your larger display PC then have that result show up on your mobile device.  The best part is you don’t really have to do anything to make all this work.  This new version, build 9.11.0 for those keeping score at home, is for both Android Phone and Android Tablet powered devices.

Google Maps – Free – Download Now

Google Maps for Android has been updated with a small but really handy feature.  Now when you use the app for navigation, it will inform you prior to you starting your journey if the destination will be closed when you arrive.  Obviously the implications of this are significant in that you can save time and fuel by not going to the destination only to find it closed.  The update, version 9.10.1 for those keeping score at home, was released yesterday and while it is the only really new feature, it is certainly a handy one.