Off-line Maps on iOS: When is it coming?

saintforlife said:

Android has it with offline cached Google Maps. Windows Phone 8 is getting full-fledged downloadable Maps for over 110 countries through Nokia Maps (which renders standalone GPS devices obsolete). Both platforms tout these as major features.

Questions - When could iOS get off-line downloadable Maps? Does Apple's new mapping technology in iOS 6 allow for such a feature?

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I'm sure that's a feature which will come down the line. No guarantee though, and it's hard to say when.

Can't see it happening. It offers you a basic ability. You want more you purchase navigon etc

saintforlife said:

Android has it with offline cached Google Maps. Windows Phone 8 is getting full-fledged downloadable Maps for over 110 countries through Nokia Maps (which renders standalone GPS devices obsolete). Both platforms tout these as major features.

Questions - When could iOS get off-line downloadable Maps? Does Apple's new mapping technology in iOS 6 allow for such a feature?

Click to expand...

It's actually available on WP7 Nokia phones already, and it works really well.

It sort of already does. If you visit a map, then turn off all data, you can revisit that map and still have GPS and map data. Maps caches the cities you've visited and keeps them for a couple of weeks.

I was in France recently and loaded up the map on the day I left, and it stayed cached for the week I was away. Obviously it's not as feature rich as the android maps where you can choose what country to download, but it's still a big improvement.

Depends how long it takes for Apple to fire up the photocopier. Compare it with all the other features Apple "copied" off the competition and you'll get an idea.

saintforlife said:

Android has it with offline cached Google Maps. Windows Phone 8 is getting full-fledged downloadable Maps for over 110 countries through Nokia Maps (which renders standalone GPS devices obsolete). Both platforms tout these as major features.

Questions - When could iOS get off-line downloadable Maps? Does Apple's new mapping technology in iOS 6 allow for such a feature?

Click to expand...

yes i mentioned this a few weeks ago. The response here in the forum was: 'no need for offline maps, just buy a navigation-app for a few hundred bucks...'

I still see this feature in WP8 and Andriod as a massiv advantage over iOS. It will come at earliest in iOS7, if ever...

PS: can Apple update stock-apps without an OS-Update??

Not on the roadmap. You are better off looking at third party applications for this for now, none of which offer the level off detail at display at e.g. Google Maps.

Man I'd love this, even a 'save visited places/planned map routes' option.

navigon..

FYI...Navigon is pretty great...they've updated it to remain relevant with the built in navigation coming...it has the Street View built in so you can look in advance what the location you are going to looks like...additionally when you are arriving at your location, it shows a split screen with the street view...pretty cool implementation I'd say...glad Garmin didn't destroy Navigon...and it has offline maps, and you don't need to have every province or state stored on your device...only the ones you need at any given time.

Zcott said:

I was in France recently and loaded up the map on the day I left, and it stayed cached for the week I was away. Obviously it's not as feature rich as the android maps where you can choose what country to download, but it's still a big improvement.

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Your experience is one great reason in favor of offline maps. Being able to download and cache the maps I want ahead of time is the feature I would like Apple to add. I would also like to be able to choose when to clear the cache whenever I'm done with the map instead of hoping that the cache doesn't disappear without me knowing it. Without any real control over the cached maps I can't fully rely on it for offline usage.

Basically I want to be able to cache maps for offline usage and also be able to delete the cache whenever I want rather than hoping the cached maps won't disappear on me. It also saves my cellular data since I can cache all the maps when I have WiFi.

I do have an offline map TomTom which is great but it does take up more than a gig of storage space. Being able to choose which maps to download and delete is a huge storage space saver. It's also good for people who have an iPod Touch and aren't near a WiFi hotspot. When I use to have an iPod Touch the map app was pretty much useless for me. Offline maps would change that.

saintforlife said:

Yeah I am not paying $50 for something that should be part of the phone to being with anyway seeing as how the competitors already have it.

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i know...it's bogus that we shouldnt have needed to find a 3rd party alternative...but it's just reality...so, given that, i think navigon's the best...i lucked out and bought it when it was cheap like $20 or something around Christmas...

Gav2k said:

Can't see it happening. It offers you a basic ability. You want more you purchase navigon etc

Click to expand...

Well then its not good enough, another point for android.

Paying $60 for something android can do for free? What kind of a solution is that.

jokerz126 said:

i know...it's bogus that we shouldnt have needed to find a 3rd party alternative...but it's just reality...so, given that, i think navigon's the best...i lucked out and bought it when it was cheap like $20 or something around Christmas...

Click to expand...

There's always skipping the next iPhone upgrade and moving to Android and getting it included.

We don't have to just blindly accept what Apple fails to give us.

AR999 said:

Well then its not good enough, another point for android.

Paying $60 for something android can do for free? What kind of a solution is that.

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It's called smart business and maximising profits!

saintforlife said:

Android has it with offline cached Google Maps. Windows Phone 8 is getting full-fledged downloadable Maps for over 110 countries through Nokia Maps (which renders standalone GPS devices obsolete). Both platforms tout these as major features.

Questions - When could iOS get off-line downloadable Maps? Does Apple's new mapping technology in iOS 6 allow for such a feature?

Click to expand...

Android offline maps doens's allow search, routing and they are not presentd in all the countries, Italy and Spain are big countries where you can't make offline maps. I don't know the reason.

Nokia maps and drive are much better in this regard

You don't really need offline maps, if the reason you want them is due to data limits. I just traveled 60 miles this morning, and my iPhone only used 2.8mb of data, and wi-fi was off the whole time. The other day I took a 30 mile trip and used 3mb of data, some of that was internet use and twitter.

I don't know how Apple did it, but iOS maps uses very little data.

hypervish89 said:

You don't really need offline maps, if the reason you want them is due to data limits. I just traveled 60 miles this morning, and my iPhone only used 2.8mb of data, and wi-fi was off the whole time. The other day I took a 30 mile trip and used 3mb of data, some of that was internet use and twitter.

I don't know how Apple did it, but iOS maps uses very little data.

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Think for a lot of people it may be more the lack of good reception all over some of the motorways here in the UK and even around some cities.

It's horrible!

I think offline maps may be a big unveil feature for iOS 6 (but doubting that) or it will be a big feature in iOS 7. If it's the latter I think they should have delayed iOS maps until iOS 7 tbh.

tann said:

Think for a lot of people it may be more the lack of good reception all over some of the motorways here in the UK and even around some cities.

It's horrible!

I think offline maps may be a big unveil feature for iOS 6 (but doubting that) or it will be a big feature in iOS 7. If it's the latter I think they should have delayed iOS maps until iOS 7 tbh.

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I don't think Maps will get that big of an update next year.

hypervish89 said:

You don't really need offline maps, if the reason you want them is due to data limits. I just traveled 60 miles this morning, and my iPhone only used 2.8mb of data, and wi-fi was off the whole time. The other day I took a 30 mile trip and used 3mb of data, some of that was internet use and twitter.

I don't know how Apple did it, but iOS maps uses very little data.

Click to expand...

Wait, you know me better than I know myself ? I can you even make a statement about my apparent need or non-need of offline maps ?

And you base this off your own experience ?

Get this : when I travel, it's not a question of data limits, it's a question of not having a data plan at all.

hypervish89 said:

You don't really need offline maps, if the reason you want them is due to data limits. I just traveled 60 miles this morning, and my iPhone only used 2.8mb of data, and wi-fi was off the whole time. The other day I took a 30 mile trip and used 3mb of data, some of that was internet use and twitter.

I don't know how Apple did it, but iOS maps uses very little data.

Click to expand...

False statement. I am driving down to Daytona Beach, FL from Columbus, OH next summer. Who knows where I'm going to hit the dead spots. I want the Apple Maps to cache onto the phone.

Apple, cache the maps/route, and if I lose reception, keep the map and route up, but have no siri turn by turn!!

Boom solved. (or at least I can hope)

hypervish89 said:

You don't really need offline maps, if the reason you want them is due to data limits. I just traveled 60 miles this morning, and my iPhone only used 2.8mb of data, and wi-fi was off the whole time. The other day I took a 30 mile trip and used 3mb of data, some of that was internet use and twitter.

I don't know how Apple did it, but iOS maps uses very little data.

Click to expand...

Yap, tell me that when I'm traveling outside of Spain.

ct2k7 said:

I don't think Maps will get that big of an update next year.

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Really? Haven't google already shown off their offline maps, and they are releasing a standalone iOS app (as well as YouTube etc) which will likely have the feature!

Surely offline maps can't be that hard?

tann said:

Really? Haven't google already shown off their offline maps, and they are releasing a standalone iOS app (as well as YouTube etc) which will likely have the feature!

Surely offline maps can't be that hard?

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At most, they'd offer regional sections, but they get updated too frequently.

It wouldn't be hard to do it. I myself prefer offline maps. No need for TomTom software, which does provide the routing. Now, I can already use Siri to get directions using maps.