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Using maps offline - urgent help wanted!!!

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  • 28-03-2014 2:27am
    #1
    HeidiHeidi
    Registered Users Posts: 28,854 ✭✭✭✭


    OK, I'm having a moment here, and the chances of anyone seeing this in time to answer it is fairly remote, but anyway......

    I'm going to London tomorrow (well, today actually), and have saved/cached a map of central London to use offline on my Samsung GS3.

    But I can't for the life of me figure out how to access it!

    Google help just keeps telling me to "tap maps > my places > offline" or something like that - but I can't find the "my places".

    Can anyone enlighten me? I've tried bringing up every menu and tapping every link I can find, and nowhere can I find the "my places" bit!

    TIA!


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    #2
    advertsfox
    Registered Users Posts: 2,699 ✭✭✭advertsfox


    Its saved in cache, turn your phone on airplane mode and go to London on the map - zoom in. Can you see lots of details, street names etc? This will only show up if it was correctly made offline.


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    #3
    HeidiHeidi
    Registered Users Posts: 28,854 ✭✭✭✭HeidiHeidi


    That's what's not working though - I tried that, and it just tells me I've no data connection.

    (I clicked open google maps from the icon, and then searched for somewhere in London that I know is on the map I saved)

    My understanding from the google help page is that I need to select or find the offline cache - that's what I can't do!


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    #4
    daelight
    Registered Users Posts: 194 ✭✭daelight


    Download 'Citymaps2go' then download London map.


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    #5
    HeidiHeidi
    Registered Users Posts: 28,854 ✭✭✭✭HeidiHeidi


    daelight wrote: »
    Download 'Citymaps2go' then download London map.

    Thanks for that - if I can't get my Google maps download to work then I'll do that - but I want to try to get the cache business to work if I can. there's clearly something small that I'm missing.


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    #6
    Slunk
    Registered Users Posts: 2,556 ✭✭✭Slunk


    Is second citymaps. Bought the paid version and downloaded a lot of maps for interrailing. Very handy


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    #7
    Idleater
    Registered Users Posts: 6,236 ✭✭✭Idleater


    Did you cache the viewed area of London by "searching" for "OK maps"


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    #8
    Arithon
    Registered Users Posts: 74 ✭✭Arithon


    HeidiHeidi wrote: »
    OK, I'm having a moment here, and the chances of anyone seeing this in time to answer it is fairly remote, but anyway......

    I'm going to London tomorrow (well, today actually), and have saved/cached a map of central London to use offline on my Samsung GS3.

    But I can't for the life of me figure out how to access it!

    Google help just keeps telling me to "tap maps > my places > offline" or something like that - but I can't find the "my places".

    Can anyone enlighten me? I've tried bringing up every menu and tapping every link I can find, and nowhere can I find the "my places" bit!

    TIA!

    Zoom to the area you want to cache.
    Click on the search bar (don't type anything).
    At the bottom of the search bar, press "Make this map area available offline". If it says the area is too large, zoom in a bit and try again.


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    #9
    PrzemoF
    Registered Users Posts: 1,931 ✭✭✭PrzemoF


    Osmand is the answer you're looking for.


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    #10
    KAGY
    Registered Users Posts: 1,090 ✭✭✭KAGY


    PrzemoF wrote: »
    Osmand is the answer you're looking for.

    I second this. Even has offline navigation. But don't forget to download the data for the area before you go


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    #11
    blobbie
    Registered Users Posts: 673 ✭✭✭blobbie


    KAGY wrote: »
    I second this. Even has offline navigation. But don't forget to download the data for the area before you go

    +1 on OSMAND


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    #12
    HeidiHeidi
    Registered Users Posts: 28,854 ✭✭✭✭HeidiHeidi


    Arithon wrote: »
    Zoom to the area you want to cache.
    Click on the search bar (don't type anything).
    At the bottom of the search bar, press "Make this map area available offline". If it says the area is too large, zoom in a bit and try again.
    This is exactly what I HAVE done! But when I try to use maps with data switched off, it just tells me I have no data......

    Where has the map of London I saved gone to and how do I get it up, that's what I'm trying to figure out!

    Thanks for all the help, people, I'll get to the bottom of this yet!


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    #13
    5starpool
    Subscribers Posts: 32,849 ✭✭✭✭5starpool


    Google maps offline navigation is rubbish compared to what used to be available. I have no idea why they would make it less user friendly and functional, but that is exactly what they have done.


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    #14
    Arithon
    Registered Users Posts: 74 ✭✭Arithon


    When you select "Make this map area available offline", you should have seen the search bar show the message
    "Pre-loading map... 0%" up to "Pre-loading map... 100%".

    After this, the behaviour I see with airplane mode is:

    - areas of the world where I haven't cached data is extremely blocky, no detail, no place markers, no error message.
    - areas of the world where I have cached data have good detail on roads, they also have place markers for locations, but you can't get any information about those place markers (it says "Can't connect").
    - search does not work (it says "No network connection").

    I think if you see something similar, it is probably "working as designed".

    One more thing: perhaps you aren't looking at the area of the world with the cached map. If you have working GPS and are outside, you can try and ask it to zoom to your location (crosshair icon).

    Also: everything I mention here is with Google Maps 7.7.0.


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    #15
    HeidiHeidi
    Registered Users Posts: 28,854 ✭✭✭✭HeidiHeidi


    Arithon wrote: »
    When you select "Make this map area available offline", you should have seen the search bar show the message
    "Pre-loading map... 0%" up to "Pre-loading map... 100%".

    This is exactly what happened

    After this, the behaviour I see with airplane mode is:

    - areas of the world where I haven't cached data is extremely blocky, no detail, no place markers, no error message.
    - areas of the world where I have cached data have good detail on roads, they also have place markers for locations, but you can't get any information about those place markers (it says "Can't connect").
    - search does not work (it says "No network connection").

    I think if you see something similar, it is probably "working as designed".

    When I switch on flight mode, the map (of Dublin, as I'm still here) is fine. But if I try to search, or do anything else, it tells me I've no data.

    One more thing: perhaps you aren't looking at the area of the world with the cached map. If you have working GPS and are outside, you can try and ask it to zoom to your location (crosshair icon).

    Also: everything I mention here is with Google Maps 7.7.0.

    Thanks everyone for the help. I've downloaded both apps that were recommended and will play with them when I get there. And anyway, it's only bloody London, I'll hardly get irretrieably lost! But I do like walking and have places to see, it'd be nice to be able to wander and have some idea of where I'm at/going.

    Maybe when I'm actually away the google maps thing will work - it's just annoying that it's there but I can't access it!

    Thanks again!


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    #16
    Arithon
    Registered Users Posts: 74 ✭✭Arithon


    It sounds like you have cached the data then... you are definitely looking at London when you say to cache the data, right? :)

    Other than that, as you've noticed, large parts of Maps' functionality is disabled when offline: searching, directions, detail about specific locations, Streetview, etc.


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    #17
    HeidiHeidi
    Registered Users Posts: 28,854 ✭✭✭✭HeidiHeidi


    I'm bad, but I'm not THAT bad :D


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    #18
    28064212
    Registered Users Posts: 10,493 ✭✭✭✭28064212


    HeidiHeidi wrote: »
    (I clicked open google maps from the icon, and then searched for somewhere in London that I know is on the map I saved)
    This is your problem. Search doesn't work offline, regardless of what you've saved offline. Offline maps only allows you to browse the map. Turn airplane mode on, open maps, swipe to London and zoom in. You should be able to see details right down to street level if it's cached

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