

Google Maps for Android Labs Offers Offline Caching - arunagarwal
http://lifehacker.com/5819742/google-maps-for-android-labs-add-offline-caching-scale-and-measuring-tools

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mmanfrin
This has been around for a while. Also, it's less than ideal, as it is simply
a cache of the map (meaning no directions). Its good if you need a traditional
map map, but not so good if you're used to the robustness of having a
smartphone map.

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jfno67
I used it while abroad. Since the GPS works, you can see where you are on the
map, which is a big plus over only a paper map. Obviously getting data access
would be even better, but it's a nice free alternative.

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andybak
The post is dated July 10, 2011 people...

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pkulak
Haha! Oh wow, I need to pay attention more.

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pkulak
Seems like Google announced this event out of pure fear, then only later
scrounged up some content for it.

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nailer
They've already had offline maps in labs for around a year I think - go into
labs, enable 'offline caching', click an area, then 'cache for offline' -
it'll grab a 10 mile square of the map around the pin.

The announcement seems to be that the feature is coming out of beta.

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BHSPitMonkey
Yep. At today's event they revealed the polished version of the feature, which
lets you define the area to cache by hand, and provides a formal UI for
managing your cached areas and telling you how much data it will require.
Here's the demo:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMBJ2Hu0NLw#t=3551s>

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LaSombra
IIRC this feature was available as a Labs experiment on the Android version

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derwiki
I read this and got it set up literally on the BART ride to the airport, going
to a place I've never been (Turkey). I love living in the future.

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jawns
Ah, so it's like an authorized version of Mobile Atlas Creator and TrekBuddy.

