Google Maps is getting disconnected.
With an update for Android phones released on Tuesday, you will be able to search nearby businesses and get driving directions, including turn-by-turn voice prompts, even if your Internet connection is spotty or non-existent.
Google Inc says a version for Apple Inc’s iPhones will come soon.
The feature is ideal if you are trying to leave an underground parking garage or a remote national park. It is also great if you are traveling abroad and want to conserve on expensive data plans. Google is also targeting users in emerging markets, where cellular speeds are slower and prices are higher relative to typical incomes.
Mapping apps included with Windows phones have long had this feature, but Windows has a tiny market share compared with iPhones and Android.
Offline mapping is also available with some third-party apps, including Nokia’s Here.
Google Maps has had a limited offline feature. It lets you save a small region ahead of time, but it is the equivalent of displaying a paper map in a phone app. You cannot use it for navigation and other tasks we have come to expect in digital maps.
With the new version, you will be able to do most of what you can do now.
You will need to download databases ahead of time, preferably when you have a Wi-Fi connection. To do so, start by searching for a location, such as a city. Then pinch in or out to select what area you want to download.
Larger areas will give you more flexibility for navigation, but they also take up more storage.
As you change your selection, you are told how large the file is and how much storage on the phone you have left.
Once you download an area, Google will periodically refresh the data with new businesses and road changes.
By default, that is done only when you are on Wi-Fi.
What you will not get with offline mapping is traffic information. Once you are back online, Google Maps might suggest a detour if there is unusual backup ahead. You also will not get photographs and user reviews for businesses, but you do get contact information, hours and an overall user rating.
For directions, the feature initially works only with driving. It is not yet available for walking, biking or public transit — so you might still be stuck in subway stations.
In related news, Apple’s freshly launched music service became available on Tuesday on rival mobile devices powered by Android software.
“Welcome Android users to @AppleMusic,” Eddie Cue, Apple senior vice president of Internet software and services, said in a Twitter message.
Apple Music applications tuned for Android-powered gadgets became available on the virtual shelves of Google’s online Play Store.
The company’s new music service had previously been available on devices powered by the technology giant’s own iOS software.
Apple chief executive Tim Cook last month said the music service had about 6.5 million subscribers.
Additional reporting by AFP
UNCERTAINTIES: Exports surged 34.1% and private investment grew 7.03% to outpace expectations in the first half, although US tariffs could stall momentum The Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) yesterday raised its GDP growth forecast to 3.05 percent this year on a robust first-half performance, but warned that US tariff threats and external uncertainty could stall momentum in the second half of the year. “The first half proved exceptionally strong, allowing room for optimism,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “But the growth momentum may slow moving forward due to US tariffs.” The tariff threat poses definite downside risks, although the scale of the impact remains unclear given the unpredictability of US President Donald Trump’s policies, Lien said. Despite the headwinds, Taiwan is likely
READY TO BUY: Shortly after Nvidia announced the approval, Chinese firms scrambled to order the H20 GPUs, which the company must send to the US government for approval Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) late on Monday said the technology giant has won approval from US President Donald Trump’s administration to sell its advanced H20 graphics processing units (GPUs) used to develop artificial intelligence (AI) to China. The news came in a company blog post late on Monday and Huang also spoke about the coup on China’s state-run China Global Television Network in remarks shown on X. “The US government has assured Nvidia that licenses will be granted, and Nvidia hopes to start deliveries soon,” the post said. “Today, I’m announcing that the US government has approved for us
When Lika Megreladze was a child, life in her native western Georgian region of Guria revolved around tea. Her mother worked for decades as a scientist at the Soviet Union’s Institute of Tea and Subtropical Crops in the village of Anaseuli, Georgia, perfecting cultivation methods for a Georgian tea industry that supplied the bulk of the vast communist state’s brews. “When I was a child, this was only my mum’s workplace. Only later I realized that it was something big,” she said. Now, the institute lies abandoned. Yellowed papers are strewn around its decaying corridors, and a statue of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin
The National Stabilization Fund (NSF, 國安基金) is to continue supporting local shares, as uncertainties in international politics and the economy could affect Taiwanese industries’ global deployment and corporate profits, as well as affect stock movement and investor confidence, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement yesterday. The NT$500 billion (US$17.1 billion) fund would remain active in the stock market as the US’ tariff measures have not yet been fully finalized, which would drive international capital flows and global supply chain restructuring, the ministry said after the a meeting of the fund’s steering committee. Along with ongoing geopolitical risks and an unfavorable
RSS