Google maps offline maps expiration now 1 year

[kumar.sachin]

Recently noticed that offline map expiration time is now 1 year (increased from 1 month previously)
Hope Apple maps give option for offline maps too
Great job google

[paulstevenewing]

That’s good news, good share @kumar.sachin
It was frustrating before as i liked to keep certain areas offline that covered my work locations.
Some areas i travel in are quite rural and data is non existent.

[ikari04warrior]

Hmm, useful for those who have limited data

[paulstevenewing]

Has helped me massively in the past

[Shenoy]

Have not been using Google Maps offline since it has put me in trouble more than couple of times… Google Maps is good and my favorite app… but only in Online mode

When I know for sure about no coverage, I use the offline maps navigation … better safe than sorry !! Ton of offline maps apps plus my Garmin GPS Navigator

[professor]

I spent weeks navigating in places with no cell coverage in the rural northern US in the summer, and I agree Google’s offline maps were bad.

I used a hybrid of

• letting it automatically download in periodic network coverage areas, in particular I’d begin navigating when on Wifi before spending hours offline,
• plus I used a “maps me” app which allowed me to make spontaneous navigation decisions offline. Google Maps could not do spontanteous navigation decisions offline, only online.

So Google Maps only downloaded static information, it could not think for itself without access to the “mother brain”.

9000 miles, never got lost, apart from in Wisconsin once.

[Shenoy]

yaay… I too use the Maps Me on iOS … that is the app which saved me …

Had pretty bad experience with Google Maps in Oregon area and Crater Lake … … glad I had Offline Maps from Maps Me…

[kumar.sachin]

Offline maps is for saving data while using it. It still gets the traffic data live in offline maps.
This is useful if you have a data cap so that maps don’t have to download everytime for render. This is like having a garmin unit with live traffic updates

Offline maps don’t mean you have to travel with no cell coverage. It simply means you have the necessary maps in your phone.

[Ice1]

I have used offline maps in the past to save data. You need some space to save them on your cell phone but that’s not a problem now as everyone has 128GB on average. I’m still running 32GB.

[professor]

A family member (*) had to go roaming last month and $$$ per MB (as high as $/MB in places) so to reduce roaming costs I downloaded offline maps for their entire areas to visit and loaded $30 of credit. Just navigating in one week cost $20 even though the maps were downloaded. It’s things like “fastest way to …” or “is there an XXX near me” consumes still a lot of data.

So Google’s downloaded maps is pretty dumb, and so retain for a year doesn’t help much.

Google needs to make the app smarter so it can think locally with less data. Other apps than Google have more local intelligence and needs less “cloud”.

** They average 240MB data per month when home so I keep them on a low monthly data plan.

[dylanmjeffords]

hey, apple just released ‘Offline Maps’… i’m LOVING it… this new 17.1.1 iOS update is pretty sick!!! You even have control over your fonts now in most apps, including e-mail, notes, etc… i love it… being able to use different fonts and format the words/type… you used to download a bunch of fonts and then use them individually, but they have THOUSANDS of fonts & WAY WAY more accessibility & versatility now… you were only able to use Bold, Italic & Underline, now it’s like a WHOLE NEW ball game… and they have this new Scanning tool, kinda like Adobe Scan Tool, it’s awesome too, being able to scan a piece of paper and digitalize it & put it into word.doc or as a .pdf without the quality being garbage or without it resizing or formatting… these are just big to me, because i’m a process server so these are tools i really use everyday, but they put a BOATLOAD of new features… like how you can tap the top of the phones now and share contact info & everything, but the ‘Font/Type Formatting’, ‘Offline Maps’ & Scanning Tool are the biggest pluses for me… it’s awesome, i know they’re usually late to the game… but iOS is just better in terms of functionality & usability… in my opinion… and the fact that they’re bringing all this to the table now is kinda crazy, i would 100% pick Apple/iOS over Google/Android…

but ya, Offline Maps is LIVE on Apple, just found out today! Thought you’d be pleased to know!