Navigation & pre-caching & maps

[Guest Matus Kalisky]

OK, I know that somewhere out there is a very detailed description on how to get the pre-caching working and such, but I would like to understand the principles.

So - first of all - as far as I know it should be easy to use the Google Maps app together with GPS to find out where you are. I also understand that navigation using the GPS should be possible, but there it starts to get milky - I do not know whether true navigation is available with some apps, or one needs some specific programs to do that which may be costly.

On top of that there are some special versions of Google Maps that should allow navigation on pre-cached maps, but the thread which contains the information has 2000+ posts and I did not yet dig deep enough to understand.

So the questions :-)

- What kind of navigation possibilities using the GPS one has when the map data is available "on the fly" via internet ? Is it a "true navigation"?

- Is pre-caching of maps possible without any special hacks? If yes - how does it actually work? What are the limits?

- Is navigation possible with the pre-cached maps? If yes - what needs to be done to make it work?

- Is any of the above dependent on the OS and/or ROM version?

Please bear with me - I do not have the phone yet ...

[Guest hedgepigdaniel]

Google Maps includes google's gps navigation, which works like a typical gps navigator and works very well. From what I understand, It needs a connection to the internet to work. That said, the connection doesn't need to be constant, for example if you start a trip where you have reception and venture somewhere where it you don't, it will keep working (It caches the necessary info when you begin). From personal experience, if you look at a map in google maps, then that area will be cached at the zoom level you use until the cache gets full or is deleted.

There are other paid apps in android market which offer alternative gps navigation, and I am told some of them have maps that are stored on the phone.

AFAIK Gmaps navigation will work in all ROMs, but many newer ROMs' GPS functionality has been tweaked to make it faster and/or more accurate.

Edited February 6, 2011 by hedgepigdaniel

[Guest Matus Kalisky]

Thanks a lot. You mentioned that when using "standard" Google Maps app that it can cache the map for a given trip if there should be no signal available. But how does the phone/app knows that there will be no signal? Or does it always cache some part of the route? Is it possible to influence what will be cached?

[Guest Ricey155]

my experience with GPS nav's on Android so far

google maps works well its simple nothing fancy, and as said it seems to work when driving through dodgy signal areas, its a little slow when signal is weak but press teh blue nav button and it catches up

ive used Aura paid app on 7 day trial its ok with decent big screen and easy to use maps are downloaded on to SD card (trial ran out before i could test it fully)

navdroyd - for me is rubbish

and havent tried any more paid apps to date as google is working ok

[Guest Phoenix Silver]

it always cache i think (increase the speed of the app anyway)

i'm in a city on 500.000 people so i never loose the data connexion

and 3g+ is always on in my phone when there is no wifi (i have a unlimited data plan)

but it's easy to test :P

prepare a road and shut down the data you'll see

i have read somewhere that Google maps 5 could download off line maps

don't know if this work

[Guest Matus Kalisky]

i have read somewhere that Google maps 5 could download off line maps

don't know if this work

that is exactly what I would like to find out :P

[Guest Phoenix Silver]

in google maps 5.1 in cache settings you can choose to pre download the maps or not

[Guest shadowninty]

Am I the only one who sees the pun in the title :P

[Guest Matus Kalisky]

in google maps 5.1 in cache settings you can choose to pre download the maps or not

That sounds promising. But is there a way to say which map you want to download, or it just happens once you have set up some route?

[Guest nrev]

in google maps 5.1 in cache settings you can choose to pre download the maps or not

5.1 just allows you to turn on/off prefetching when on 3G. This isn't the same thing as downloading maps for off-line use. In fact the effect will be the opposite in terms of the quantity of mobile data downloaded over 3G - turning this on will make Google Maps download neighbouring map tiles adjacent to your current location whether you need them or not just in case you travel into one of them, i.e. increasing mobile data use, whereas downloading a map and cacheing before you travel will reduce 3G data consumption to zero - and as far as I know you can't do this with Google Maps.

Edited February 6, 2011 by nrev

[Guest Matus Kalisky]

Am I the only one who sees the pun in the title :D

Hey! What pun? There was no pun intended. :P Please share what kind of pun you see there ...

[Guest Matus Kalisky]

5.1 just allows you to turn on/off prefetching when on 3G. This isn't the same thing as downloading maps for off-line use. In fact the effect will be the opposite in terms of the quantity of mobile data downloaded over 3G - turning this on will make Google Maps download neighbouring map tiles adjacent to your current location whether you need them or not just in case you travel into one of them, i.e. increasing mobile data use, whereas downloading a map and cacheing before you travel will reduce 3G data consumption to zero - and as far as I know you can't do this with Google Maps.

Thanks a lot. Now the question is - is there a way pre download some specific map for future navigation use in some way? That is actually what I am looking for ...

I have read something about that over on xda-developers but it is hard to find the essence in so many posts. ANybody used that one? [I hope I do not brake some rules when posting this link]

[Guest Quu]

"hacked" maps 5.1 with some of brut's modifications: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread...88#post11121088