i know the "whats better" question has been asked a million times w/ tom tom, google and windows live etc....but here's a question that i haven't been able to find. As far as windows live, i see that it allows you to store up to 128 mb of map data for cache. I just downloaded the google maps application, and i dont see anything as far as cache settings in the program. Now here are the questions
1) is there any place where i can just straight download the maps/data for windows live so i dont have to worry about not picking up a map if i ever loose reception. is there anyway to exceed the 128 mb of storage on my
2) as far as google maps, does it even store a cache at all? i couldn't seem to find any type of data saved folder associated w/ google. If there is a folder, same question as "1" above, is there anyway to download some of the maps to the phone.
not too sure about downloading maps prior to travelling but, google maps does have cache on it so i guess if youve been there before and not reset google maps, its not gonna need a data connection
????
Maps with no data connection.....is this what you mean??........tomtom 6 I bought a map ......no data connection is needed......maps are about 50 USD... keeps track of every place I've been to. very detailed
peace
mike
mike19722 said:
Maps with no data connection.....is this what you mean??........tomtom 6 I bought a map ......no data connection is needed......maps are about 50 USD... keeps track of every place I've been to. very detailed
peace
mike
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the question is whether you can do it w/ google or windows live...tom tom is entirely storage based, so you'll never need an internet connection unless u want traffic. i'm very aware of that, but the quesiton is whether you can do something similar w/ google or wls which are internet based
Ummm, isn't there a setting in them which sets the cache amount? I could've sweared I've seen cache amoun in Live.. that should allow u to have cached maps of your visited areas.
I dont know how this would be possible because doesn't Windows live and Google Maps check for an internet connection immediately open starting...before a map is even loaded? Also, with all of the phone numbers, restaraunt reviews, and addresses...I'd imagine this would make one hefty sized cache.
ajmoncrief said:
I dont know how this would be possible because doesn't Windows live and Google Maps check for an internet connection immediately open starting...before a map is even loaded?
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Not really. it will show you the last place or frame that you browsed.
ajmoncrief said:
I dont know how this would be possible because doesn't Windows live and Google Maps check for an internet connection immediately open starting...before a map is even loaded? Also, with all of the phone numbers, restaraunt reviews, and addresses...I'd imagine this would make one hefty sized cache.
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Really wouldn't care too much as far as size goes. I mean, i have a little over 5 gigs free on my microsd right now...plus i would only be looking to get riverside, orange, los angeles and san bernardino counties in southern california. Don't really have the need for a full US map or anything.
You may want to take a look at the GPS program Smart2Go. This software allows you to predownload maps of any area so as to save you data charges. The best part is that in general the software and maps are free! The only time you have to pay is if you want to using the routing feature and then it seems to be pay-per-use. Otherwise if you just want to see where you are and what POIs are around you then this program is pretty cool. It also allows you to view the street map in 2D or 3D perspective.
You can find it at: http://www.smart2go.com/en/
rightio well obviously this phone has built in GPS and i would love to utalize this feature on the road or when generally finding places.
Thing is however the GPS works the maps do not load. i have tried google maps, and they do not load without wifi, same as the google map editor, andnav and also nav4all. None of them show the maps unless they have been pre-loaded via wifi which isnt possible most of the time. I would love for some help with this, if i could save the WHOLE map for the UK that would be great! and be able to access it offline and use it with the GPS.
Any ideas?
Also sorry if its been covered before i did do a search and couldn't find anything
Thanks
Look for "BigPlanet" on Android Market.
there are no results so im guessing its a paid app? i dont really want to spend any cash...
welshboy09 said:
there are no results so im guessing its a paid app? i dont really want to spend any cash...
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I don't know of any other offline apps for the G1. It works mostly ok, but could have a couple of more features.
PS only costs $3
PPS http://bigplanetmaps.wordpress.com/
Although the engine for bigplanet seems to be available to be licensed for other apps now, so maybe someone will release a freebe.
well i tried downloading it, and i keep getting an error saying my credit card is invalid... i live in the UK and it comes up as $2.99 in the store... plus i know for a fact it is valid, i used it with paypal almost every day, also ATM's and chip and pin in store...
Try emailing the author to see if he has allowed it for all countries...
well i don't understand why it wouldn't be, i haven't used the program to unlock the market... i simply signed up for google checkout so all the apps that aren't allowed for my country shouldn't even show up, should they? well ill e-mail him anyway
AndNav2 can download maps in advance. Zoom the region you would like to download, Menu->Precache (or whatever it was called) and select zoom level. Beware that on the highest two zoom levels you would be downloading hundreds megabytes if you are viewing large area.
i cant find andnav2 in the market though..
So get it from their website!
waze.co.il is working on (a paid) version of FreeMap
They re-written FreeMap to native android .
it should be released soon to the US market. not free, I know but they will eventually release it as free since it is open source.
Their true advantage over most android GPS programs is they offer true offline navigation program (like iGo for WindowsMobile). you download the country file into your device.
Once you did that you can navigate freely. Route calculations are done inside the device and not on some remote server.
users can upload their history routes at home , to fix map errors so it is integrated to public map.
if you have a data plan and agree to expose your location it will ping your location every few minutes and (with more people doing that) they can provide you online traffic jams info.
save2 said:
if you have a data plan and agree to expose your location it will ping your location every few minutes and (with more people doing that) they can provide you online traffic jams info.
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I think AndNav2 does the same thing, you can download map packs ahead of time and it will upload your GPS traces if you allow it to to improve maps, and probably traffic etc.
You can find interesting things about andnav2 and Bigplanet on droidappz.com
For offline browsing? I download the mapnik_us pack and have it stored on the SD according to instructions but andnav doesn't seem to be using them and I have no clue how to force it to do so. It is marked in the options as the default. I'm trying to get some offline apps I can poke around on (I don't need routing) and perhaps give me my GPS location on said maps and andnav would be fine if it would display the damn maps. Perhaps I need to create my own maps for the area? I saw that is possible. Any suggestions or alternatives? Pretty please
There's an application that is able to create custom offline maps for andnav2. See TrekBuddy Atlas Creator.
Andnav2 only supports offline use for map-sources that allow such use. That does unfortunately not include google-maps. Oterwise andnav just calculates which map-tile(s) it needs to display and grabs them from the sdcard if they are there, if not it has to get them from a server. For all openstreetmap-variants it will keep downloaded tiles indefinitely. It's left up to the user to clean out the storage-space if necessary.
Maps are store on the sdcard in /sdcard/andnav2/tiles. Here you find directories for the different map-sources. Some examples are:
cloudmade
cyclemap
mapnik
openpistemap
osmarender​
At the next level there are directories for the various zoom-levels (resolutions) numbered from 0 upwards.
The map-creator will create an appropriate tilepack for the chosen area and resolutions from a choice of map-sources. Although it strictly speaking is a breach of the AUP it is actually possible to grab map-tiles from google and store them on the phone in one of the mentioned directories. I grabbed google's topo (terrain) maps for my local area and placed them in the openpistemap directory which otherwise is a type of map that is irrelevant to my area/use, and that works very well for my bike/hiking trips.
I know its in Beta but too many force close crashes for me...
Plus the postcode db is too incomplete. ( and I know its because its costs a lot for the data)
phel21 said:
There's an application that is able to create custom offline maps for andnav2. See TrekBuddy Atlas Creator.
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. Since I don't know for certain if any of the us mapnik tiles that i downloaded, it's likely that I'm going to have to create them as you mentioned, which is fine. I just find it odd that nothing was displAyed regardless of zoom level even when I had the program set to use the maptiles. At least this way Ican do what you did since I do a lot of biking as well.
megaoptimus said:
. Since I don't know for certain if any of the us mapnik tiles that i downloaded, it's likely that I'm going to have to create them as you mentioned, which is fine. I just find it odd that nothing was displAyed regardless of zoom level even when I had the program set to use the maptiles. At least this way Ican do what you did since I do a lot of biking as well.
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Me too, I do biking and would love to have an off data plan option for on the back roads kind of thing. Tried doing the andnav 2 and made maps with the buddy utility but couldn't figure out how to get things going on the device. Any tips would be welcome.
clfxjoe said:
Me too, I do biking and would love to have an off data plan option for on the back roads kind of thing. Tried doing the andnav 2 and made maps with the buddy utility but couldn't figure out how to get things going on the device. Any tips would be welcome.
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If you copy a tile from the wikipage of andnav, you've got to make sure you delete the _benelux, _us, _manhattan,... in the mapname starting with "mapnik"
For example if the map is called "mapnik_us" rename it to "mapnik". Everything works fine out here with the Benelux tile (although extra mapping is always welcome)
if you've got more than one tile installed, change the one you don't use at that time back to "mapnik_us" and the on you will use to "mapnik".
hope it helps
I tried AndNav2 and it did not really work for me. My problem was that every time I tried to set a desination it seemed to work but the would always try to route me back to my home address. I might try it again another day when a few more of these bugs are fixed but at the moment using Google Maps is better.
Update for AndNav2 In US?
A brief update since I kept stumbling on this thread.
Andnav2 isn't available via Market in the US and the current group at code.google.com/p/andnav/ isn't posting the .apk yet.
I looked, but couldn't find any APK, so pulled the source and built it. Hopefully it'll save some of you the effort. AndNav2 version 0.8.8.2.1 is attached.
A US server isn't available in this build, but I wanted andnav2 for when I travel and don't have data coverage (in Europe) so hopefully it'll work well for that
Where is your attachment?
I posted the binary here andnav2-download.blogspot.com
pkunk123 said:
A brief update since I kept stumbling on this thread.
Andnav2 isn't available via Market in the US and the current group at code.google.com/p/andnav/ isn't posting the .apk yet.
I looked, but couldn't find any APK, so pulled the source and built it. Hopefully it'll save some of you the effort. AndNav2 version 0.8.8.2.1 is attached.
A US server isn't available in this build, but I wanted andnav2 for when I travel and don't have data coverage (in Europe) so hopefully it'll work well for that
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Click to collapse
Ok, so I was really excited when Google discussed at I/O the ability to save map data for certain areas to be able to access it with our Nexus7's without a data connection. Obviously on a tablet with no 3G/4G/LTE/etc. connectivity, this is a requirement to be able to use it as a GPS device.
When I got mine, I saved my entire home region. It seems to cap out around 85MB in size, so you can't just save the entire country, which is fine. I also noticed that the amount of space required seems to be tied to the size of the map you make, and has nothing to do with the amount of streets, cities, etc. (aka data) for that location (ie: New York City takes up the same amount of space as Nowheresville, MT). This was a little confusing, but OK.
Anyway, here is my issue. The other day, I took my Nexus7 for a road trip, and tried to use the Navigation app. It was able to show me where I was in real time, and give somewhat-detailed street information which was nice. However, it doesn't actually know how to GET anywhere. In other words, if you try to give it a destination, it fails, requiring Internet access. I tried addresses, cities, business names (who are actually on the map) as well as just clicking somewhere and asking it to provide a route. Nothing.
So I ask this: what good is offline map storage if you can't actually DO anything with it?
Don't get me wrong, I understand that this is a new feature and might not be fully developed. But based on the Google I/O presentation, they made it out to be much more functional than it is. Something along the lines of "Going to a different city? Just preload your Nexus7 with the map for the area and you're good to go!". Sure, if all you want is a static map and want to try and figure out directions yourself, I guess that will work. But it certainly doesn't provide anywhere near the functionality required for an offline GPS device.
Unless of course I'm missing something - but I doubt it.
I agree and I don't think you're missing something. For the size of the data it downloads for a given area, I believe it has all the address so I why can't one do a search of somewhere?
Might have something to do with apple taking aim at local search functions with their lawsuits? Finding that information would probably require accessing the function in question.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
nooomoto said:
Might have something to do with apple taking aim at local search functions with their lawsuits? Finding that information would probably require accessing the function in question.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
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Possibly, but I doubt it. AFAIK, the "local search" issue was with Samsung allowing users to run a search query which would also perform the search on local apps, files, etc. It had nothing to do with map searching, which would fall under a completely different scope. And the app supports it, but just seems to require Internet to make it work.
Also, while Samsung seemingly took it out of one/some of their devices with an OTA update, they later said this was an accident, and have pushed a fix out to put it back.
I given up with Offline Maps, really it just the same as having a paper map that only covers a limited area, instead I've been using NavFree, does navigation, address search, points of interest all without a data connection.
The Apple/Samsung lawsuit is 100% unrelated to offline search in maps. Google it, do some reading, and you'll see what I mean. I have GPS Copilot installed for any offline needs I may have.
Yeah dude google maps offline is a joke. You'll need to
1) start your destination somewhere you are connected to wifi
2) wait for google maps offline to not suck so bad
3) use a different app
Or just root your phone and tether...that's what I've been doing for years.
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA Premium HD app
nooomoto said:
Or just root your phone and tether...that's what I've been doing for years.
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA Premium HD app
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That doesn't solve the problem, it's simply a work around.
Sure, if you have wifi or tethering you can get online and get live maps/route data. But that doesn't negate the fact that Google Maps Offline is seriously flawed. It should work without needing to be online, otherwise what's the point of saving offline map data in the first place.
phonic said:
That doesn't solve the problem, it's simply a work around.
Sure, if you have wifi or tethering you can get online and get live maps/route data. But that doesn't negate the fact that Google Maps Offline is seriously flawed. It should work without needing to be online, otherwise what's the point of saving offline map data in the first place.
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It's much better than not having the map at all. If you have a GPS (like the Nexus 7 does), you still see yourself on the map where you are. The only thing missing is the blue line to your destination. It's limited, sure, but it's a lot better than not having a map at all to see your GPS location on.
+1 for NavFree though. If you need navigation (like in cities you aren't familiar with), this is a lifesaver, even if it eats battery rapidly and is very slow (at least on my Galaxy S).
I'm sure Google can/will release offline navigation in time (possibly along with entire country map downloads), but probably not until Apple pushes them to by releasing their own offline navigation.
jabsys said:
I given up with Offline Maps, really it just the same as having a paper map that only covers a limited area, instead I've been using NavFree, does navigation, address search, points of interest all without a data connection.
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I used the offline maps with directions when i started out on a data connection and then immediately turned it off. I started the n7 navigation with it tethered to my phone, once navigation has established its route, I disconnect my data and the directions continue to work.
This worked for me. It may not work for you, I do apologize if I waste your time.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
I use offline maps quite a bit.
Navigation is usually useless for most of the back country roads I'm on. Having a map and GPS showing me where I am in relation to where I need to be (pre-set waypoints) is awesome and is better than nothing.
Another app I use often is Maverick with pre-cached satellite maps. I'd dump Maverick if Google Maps had offline satellite and topo maps.
jabsys said:
I given up with Offline Maps, really it just the same as having a paper map that only covers a limited area, instead I've been using NavFree, does navigation, address search, points of interest all without a data connection.
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Thank you for showing me this app! That's perfect, and just what I'm looking for. Looks like it will work amazingly!
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Premium HD app
I wish apps could use the cached data from Maps, but so far each app I've tried appears to download it and cache it directly. No idea if it's even possible to to, but it'd be nice if all apps could access the cache and use it.
As for the OP, this has been discussed since Maps first released.... It does not have the engine or routing data to do offline navigation. Maybe it will in the future, but it does not today.
try Co-pilot GPS from the market. It's free, and it downloads maps and stores them on the phone. If you have any svox classic voices purchased you will get the more advanced street names as part of the turn by turn verbal directions. I haven't tried this version yet, but it looks great and for free you have nothing to lose.
nooomoto said:
Or just root your phone and tether...that's what I've been doing for years.
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA Premium HD app
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Tether to what? I already pay $70 a month for internet at home I am sure as hell not gonna pay for more data
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
IMO, for a FREE navigation app, I think you get a little more than you paid for...
The Turn-by-Turn directions require a data connection initially. But once it has downloaded the directions, you can use it offline and still get the voice directions - I tested it out on Saturday. You want to leave it connected a few minutes so it can cache all the map tiles along the route. If you don't let it finish caching the route, there will be places where you can see the route and get voice nagivation, but the streets won't show up.
If you deviate from the route, however, you will lose any navigation until you get back on the suggested route. You can see your route on the map, but there won't be any streets showing up at your location - even if you have chached the entire area in maps. If you zoom out you can see the suggested route. The voice nagivation will try to get you to turn around and go back since it can't recalculate the route. It needs more than just a map to calculate the route. It doesn't read a map the way you or I would to get directions...:silly:
I had maps and navigation running at the same time, and when I left the suggested route I switched over to maps (leaving navigation running in the background) and could see the streets I was on. A bit crude but it worked...
Once in range of the suggested route, the voice navigation will pick back up again and continue from there, and the streets will show up again.
I really hope Google eventually allows client side navigation, instead of server side requiring a data plan or wifi.
I've used Google Navigation on my tablet by calculating a route prior to disconnect from wifi, and their Navigation is hands down the best available for Android.
I've tried other Navigation apps, and they're super slow compared to Google, especially when it comes to re-routing or telling when you turned. Google almost re-routes you instantly when you go off route, other apps sometimes take a full minute before they set another route. Plus, Goole's street naming is fantastic for audible directions.
Offline maps is something, but off line route planning will be the ultimate offering.
I don't see how this could be too difficult to enable. Sure, maybe there are patent issues to work out (possible, but unlikely). But this functionality is already present in cheap GPS devices. The maps themselves take up a lot of space (a couple gigs on average for the entire US on a dedicated GPS unit), but if we download an 85MB region map, all the streets/addresses should already be built in. So it comes down to getting the routing engine to work offline. I'm not sure how big or complex this is, but IMHO it should be a simple addition.
And yes, it's "free" so we are getting what we pay for, but still.
As I mentioned earlier, my biggest disappointment was that Google made it out to be a fully comprehensive update to Google Maps, when it really isn't.
phonic said:
I don't see how this could be too difficult to enable. Sure, maybe there are patent issues to work out (possible, but unlikely). But this functionality is already present in cheap GPS devices. The maps themselves take up a lot of space (a couple gigs on average for the entire US on a dedicated GPS unit), but if we download an 85MB region map, all the streets/addresses should already be built in. So it comes down to getting the routing engine to work offline. I'm not sure how big or complex this is, but IMHO it should be a simple addition.
And yes, it's "free" so we are getting what we pay for, but still.
As I mentioned earlier, my biggest disappointment was that Google made it out to be a fully comprehensive update to Google Maps, when it really isn't.
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I would love to know Google's reasoning behind server side routing only. I've searched around, but can't find a definitive answer. I always figured they stay clear from allowing off-line routing because you'll lose out on real-time traffic condition, weather, accident updates, etc.