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Using iphone GPS aborad.. does it use data?

J

jrm27

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 3, 2008
579
31
Hello all,

I'll be traveling to europe from the US next week. I was going to go the route of using local sim cards, but I'll be moving around so much that it's just gonna a hassle I don't want to deal with. So, I'm just going to turn on the ATT International plan, and turn off all data usage on my phone. I'll make most of my calls over Skype/facetime.

However, I do want to use my maps and GPS. Can that be down without using cellular data? Any pointers?
 
Yes you can use GPS without using cellular data, but Airplane mode must be turned off for it to work and the initial fix may take a few minutes.
 
What map program? Some store the maps on your iPhone, but others need data access. I use Navigon which has the maps on my phone, (but have not tried it in another country)
 
Thanks all.

As far as map program, I was thinking just Apple Maps, or Google Maps. I also have some city specific maps from a group called "Ulmon". These look like they downlaod the specific cities into their own app on your phone, then just use your GPS to show you where you are and how to get around? Can I donwlaod Apple Maps/Google Maps data to the phone?
 
jrm27 said:
Thanks all.

As far as map program, I was thinking just Apple Maps, or Google Maps. I also have some city specific maps from a group called "Ulmon". These look like they downlaod the specific cities into their own app on your phone, then just use your GPS to show you where you are and how to get around? Can I donwlaod Apple Maps/Google Maps data to the phone?
Click to expand...

I don't think there's a way to download the data pre hand for Apple Maps or Google Maps. What countries are you going to visit?

When I was on a short trip I used an app calle oMaps (offlinemaps) where you could zoom into an area and download the map for that onto your phone and use GPS to be located on that map later. However it took FOREVER for the maps to download.
 
jrm27 said:
I'll be traveling to europe from the US next week. I was going to go the route of using local sim cards, but I'll be moving around so much that it's just gonna a hassle I don't want to deal with. So, I'm just going to turn on the ATT International plan, and turn off all data usage on my phone. I'll make most of my calls over Skype/facetime.

However, I do want to use my maps and GPS. Can that be down without using cellular data? Any pointers?
Click to expand...
You can use an app that has offline maps, such as Navigon. They work well to navigate to specific addresses, but cannot replace Google/Apple Maps' capability to quickly locate businesses, attractions etc. because their offline POI databases are obviously more limited than Google's or Apple's.

Another alternative is to book AT&T's global data add-on for a month. The smallest one has 120MB per month for $30. Not extremely cheap, but 120MB is enough for maps and email in my experience and it works in most European countries.
 
A lot of people don't know this but within the Google maps app goto the area where you will be traveling and get it all on the screen.

Then in the search field type "ok maps" minus quotes.

The on screen area will be cached. A pop up comes up on the screen to inform you.

Now I've never actually turned off data to test this so buyer beware. However if you have time before you leave I'd test it in your area and see how it does with data turned off.

Report back if you do. I'm sure this would help a lot of people out if it works well.
 
cynics said:
A lot of people don't know this but within the Google maps app goto the area where you will be traveling and get it all on the screen.

Then in the search field type "ok maps" minus quotes.

The on screen area will be cached. A pop up comes up on the screen to inform you.

Now I've never actually turned off data to test this so buyer beware. However if you have time before you leave I'd test it in your area and see how it does with data turned off.

Report back if you do. I'm sure this would help a lot of people out if it works well.
Click to expand...

I tried that. Doesn't really work if you want to cache the map data for a country.
It says that the data is too large. You can cache only a city.
 
i just saw a little tip on another website, it said if you have the google map app you can save the maps offline.

1. go to the part of the map you want to save
2. go to the search bar on top of the apps
3. search for "ok maps" and it will cache and save

i dont know if it will work, hjavent tried it yet
 
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