Offline Google travel maps

[Pat Barry]

I just discovered that you can create and save offline maps in Google maps. My wife and I have been driving all over Sweden and Norway using offline navigation on these saved maps. No cell service required. I highly recommend this to anyone travelling.

[Lee Schierer]

Can you save an area and then select where you want to go within that area when you are offline?

[Frank Pratt]

Yes, you can save a geographical area & then use that map to find directions when offline. I don't know what the limitations are as far as the size of area that can be saved.

[Pat Barry]

Yes. It works really well. There are a couple YouTube videos on how to do it. Search a city in Google maps, then, click on the town name below the map, then select download and you can size the area you want (bigger area = more megabytes), then download it (you may want to rename it after it is saved). To use the map, put your phone in airplane mode, then start Google maps, click on the three bars at the top left, select offline maps, then pick your saved map. Try it out around town next time you go for a drive.

[Lee Schierer]

When I enter a location and tap on the address I don't get a download option on my Samsung galaxy J3. Here is what I see. 411893

[Lee DeRaud]

When I enter a location and tap on the address I don't get a download option on my Samsung galaxy J3.On my J3, you bring up Google Maps, then Settings (three bars in upper left), then Offline Maps, then Select Your Own Map. That brings up a new map with an area selected, usually right around your current location. You have to then zoom out, move to roughly the area you want, zoom in until the area covered by the selection is roughly what you want, then hit Download. It usually gives you a larger area than you have selected...I'm guessing their maps are in fixed-size chunks.

[Edwin Santos]

You can also save a Google Map of any place that you have created with all the points of interest that you choose to mark. The save that map and use it for turn by turn directions. If you're lost and need to get back to your hotel, you can set up turn by turn directions, put earbuds in, and follow the directions (walking or driving) which will be inaudible to anyone else thus not revealing that you are lost. You can designate this map to be a sharing map and Google will provide you with a link you can share with anyone else.

Google Translate is pretty amazing too. You can download the language module for the country you are traveling, and use it offline. This includes the OCR feature which will translate menus, signs, any written text. It's good but not perfect. I found it had difficulty with Japanese.

[Lee Schierer]

On my J3, you bring up Google Maps, then Settings (three bars in upper left), then Offline Maps, then Select Your Own Map. That brings up a new map with an area selected, usually right around your current location. You have to then zoom out, move to roughly the area you want, zoom in until the area covered by the selection is roughly what you want, then hit Download. It usually gives you a larger area than you have selected...I'm guessing their maps are in fixed-size chunks.

Thanks, that is a bit awkward, but it worked. Once I saved the first one, now when I tap on the address I get a download button.


Update: When I tried it again today, the download button was awol again.:confused:

[John K Jordan]

I've used them, took a lot of data but worth it at times especially if we don't have a specific route planned in advance.

Another thing we often do when traveling in Europe by car is plan the route ahead of time, usually in the hotel when we have WiFi. We take a series of screen shots on a large iPad - some shots zoomed out for each "leg", zoomed in some on approach to major turns, and zoomed in a lot in confusing areas. I say "we" but my personal travel agent does that all and just tells me where to turn and when we have arrived. :)

We've also learned to rent a car if possible with GPS installed.

JKJ

[Pat Barry]

I've used them, took a lot of data but worth it at times especially if we don't have a specific route planned in advance.

Another thing we often do when traveling in Europe by car is plan the route ahead of time, usually in the hotel when we have WiFi. We take a series of screen shots on a large iPad - some shots zoomed out for each "leg", zoomed in some on approach to major turns, and zoomed in a lot in confusing areas. I say "we" but my personal travel agent does that all and just tells me where to turn and when we have arrived. :)

We've also learned to rent a car if possible with GPS installed.

JKJ

I'm thrifty. Here in Scandanavia the GPS option added $10 per day. I also looked at dowloading a map package for my own GPS unit from Garmin but that was $69.99. Google maps are free, accurate, and easy once you spend a little time to learn it. 10 days on the road so far in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway and its worked flawlessly!

[Frank Pratt]

I've used them, took a lot of data but worth it at times especially if we don't have a specific route planned in advance.

Another thing we often do when traveling in Europe by car is plan the route ahead of time, usually in the hotel when we have WiFi. We take a series of screen shots on a large iPad - some shots zoomed out for each "leg", zoomed in some on approach to major turns, and zoomed in a lot in confusing areas. I say "we" but my personal travel agent does that all and just tells me where to turn and when we have arrived. :)

We've also learned to rent a car if possible with GPS installed.

JKJ


But you don't need to do the screen shot thing. If you save a Google map, then when you're offline you can get directions & zoom in on anything that is within the saved area, just as though you were online.

[Terry Wawro]

Just be careful to not download the maps too far in advance of your trip. Your downloaded maps expire after 30 or 45 days.

[Pat Barry]

Just be careful to not download the maps too far in advance of your trip. Your downloaded maps expire after 30 or 45 days.

So far all the maps I've saved for offline use expire in 1 year.

[Lee DeRaud]

So far all the maps I've saved for offline use expire in 1 year.Sounded like the ones you used were in Europe. The US ones I've used expire in 30 days, but (most of the time) they auto-update.

It may also depend on whether the covered area is predominantly rural or urban (e.g. northern Arizona vs SoCal), which could affect how often Google's own databases get updated.