Google Maps Gets Offline Navigation And Search
It’s 8am and you’re in your garage. You have to head into a different direction today, but you can’t fire up Google Maps until you’ve left the garage, because you’re offline. You probably pull off to the side of the road until your phone gets connectivity.
Not anymore. Starting today, Google Maps will make itself available offline (search and navigation) for Android, with iOS coming soon. This feature was first shown at Google I/O in May, and it’s pretty damn great.
I chatted with Amanda Bishop, Product Manager for Google Maps, about offline mode last week, and she tells me that the reason for pushing towards an offline product were that speeds are slow and data is expensive, especially outside of the US. Then there’s 60% of the world that’s without internet still. Yet even here in the states, we find dead spots on carriers and slow internet on the road.
“10% of the time our users are getting slow or no results.” Bishop told me. That’s not really conducive to being confident about where you’re headed next. I mean, in some spots in Los Angeles you might as well print out directions and drop them on the floor of your car like everyone used to before GPS.
Not anymore. Starting today, Google Maps will make itself available offline (search and navigation) for Android, with iOS coming soon. This feature was first shown at Google I/O in May, and it’s pretty damn great.
“10% of the time our users are getting slow or no results.” Bishop told me. That’s not really conducive to being confident about where you’re headed next. I mean, in some spots in Los Angeles you might as well print out directions and drop them on the floor of your car like everyone used to before GPS.
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