Tech giant Google announced that its Google Maps service will now support offline mode. The new feature will allow users to download an area on Google Maps where Internet connection is weak or non-existent. (Photo : Reuters)
Tech giant Google announced that its Google Maps service will now support offline mode. The new feature will allow users to download an area on Google Maps where Internet connection is weak or non-existent. This is to make sure that they can continue using the service even in the absence of an internet connection.
Saving portions of Google Maps have been available since 2012. However, Google has never indexed these results before in order to provide search and navigation features. With the new update, downloaded areas of Google Maps will still function as they were in online mode. This means that users will still receive turn-by-turn directions, search for destinations and get information from places like contact details, hours of operation and ratings, according to Android Central.
To do this, users need to download that specific area into their phone's hard drive. They can do this by searching for a city, a county or even a country. Once users find that specific place, they can just tap Download or tap the + button in the Offline Area tab of Google Maps, according to Digital Trends.
Once the area is downloaded, Google Maps will automatically switch to offline mode in the event that users are in that place. Once Google Maps detects that the user is in a place with strong Internet connection, it will automatically switch back to online mode.
When in offline mode, some feature of Google Maps will not be activated. One example given is live traffic update which needs constant Internet connection to be updated.
Download certain areas of Google Maps consume massive amounts of data. To make sure that users do not consume their mobile data caps, Google Maps, by default, will only download data when connected to a Wi-Fi connection.
