Yuzi download

Big Offline Google Maps

I dont know about you, but my Google Maps for Android has just enabled the new offline features. Even if you have the latest version of the app, you still need to wait until these features are enabled because theyre gradually rolled out.

My first disappointment is that the new features are still limited. The biggest size for an offline area you can download is 120,000 square kilometers and there are many countries that are bigger than that. I downloaded Londons map and checked the size of the map: 332 MB. It also expires in 29 days (maps need to be updated at least every 30 days).



It looks like Googles maps include too much information, they take up too much space and theres no way to download some simplified maps.

Lets try one of the smallest countries in Europe: Liechtenstein, which has an area of only 160 square kilometers. The offline map has 62 MB. New York? 409 MB. Los Angeles? 356 MB. Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing, Bangkok? Not available because of licensing issues.


Forget about downloading the map for an entire country. Google Maps still cant replace the Here app or paid navigation apps.

Available link for download

Full Featured Offline Google Maps

Google Maps has a really cool mobile app for Android and iOS, but most of its features arent available when youre offline. You can cache maps for small regions and thats pretty useful, but what if you want to cache the maps for an entire country or use navigation and driving directions when youre in a different country? The Here app offers this feature for free and now you can use it in Google Maps too.

"Now you can download an area of the world to your phone, and the next time you find theres no connectivity — whether its a country road or an underground parking garage — Google Maps will continue to work seamlessly. Whereas before you could simply view an area of the map offline, now you can get turn-by-turn driving directions, search for specific destinations, and find useful information about places, like hours of operation, contact information or ratings," mentions Google.


"You can download an area by searching for a city, county or country, for instance, and tapping Download on the resulting place sheet, or by going to Offline Areas in the Google Maps menu and tapping on the + button. Once downloaded, Google Maps will move into offline mode automatically when it recognizes youre in a location with spotty service or no connectivity at all. When a connection is found, it will switch back online so you can easily access the full version of Maps, including live traffic conditions for your current route."


The new feature is gradually rolling out in the latest version of Google Maps for Android and it will soon be added to the iOS app. 6 years after launching turn-by-turn navigation, this feature works offline and Google Maps can finally replace paid navigation apps.

Available link for download

Classic Google Maps No Longer Available

Classic Google Maps has been replaced by Google Maps Lite back in April, but there were a few URLs you could use to access it. Now they no longer work, so youll have to get used to the new interface or switch to a different service like Bing Maps or Here.com. There are still various sites that use features from the Classic Maps, including Googles own Map Maker.


Last week, I had to print some directions in Google Maps and I realized that the classic Google Maps had a much better printing feature. You could include a map for each step or add Street View imagery. The new Google Maps offers two options: print text only or print including maps. There are fewer maps included since directions are now grouped and you can no longer customize each step.

Available link for download

Google Maps apps for Android and iOS are getting a cleaner design

from PhoneDog.com - Latest videos, reviews, articles, news and posts http://ift.tt/2arB28g
via IFTTT

Available link for download

Google Maps getting cleaner look for maps with highlighted areas of interest

Google is in the process or rolling out cleaner maps to Google Maps in an attempt to show more relevant information to users without overcrowding. Youll notice certain elements going away, but there is one new thing coming to your maps—areas of interest. If Google thinks theres some cool stuff in a particular area, youll see it highlighted on the map.

The new maps will emphasize different labels and elements (right above).

Read More

Google Maps getting cleaner look for maps with highlighted areas of interest was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

from Android Police – Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets http://ift.tt/2acN6v9
via IFTTT

Available link for download

Google Maps Wi Fi only mode currently in testing

from PhoneDog.com - Latest videos, reviews, articles, news and posts http://ift.tt/2a1nlLR
via IFTTT

Available link for download

Google Maps is rolling out Wi Fi only mode and mass transit delay notifications to some users

A couple of very useful features have started rolling out to a few lucky Google Maps users in the last couple of days. If youve been following along with our APK Teardowns, you might remember sections covering notifications for mass transit delays and an option to restrict data usage to Wi-Fi only. If youve been eager to see either of these, now might be a good time to open up Maps and poke around.

Read More

Google Maps is rolling out Wi-Fi only mode and mass transit delay notifications to some users was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

from Android Police – Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets http://ift.tt/2a2PEdW
via IFTTT

Available link for download

Google Maps shows cursor on all custom ROMs with video

from xda-developers http://ift.tt/2am9Ac9
via IFTTT

Available link for download

Google Maps rolls out a cleaner look and adds areas of interest

from Android Central - Android Forums, News, Reviews, Help and Android Wallpapers http://ift.tt/2a9K4aU
via IFTTT

Available link for download

Always on Android Wear apps with the Google Maps API

Originally posted on the Geo Developers Blog

Posted by Ankur Kotwal, Developer Advocate

Some Android Wear apps are most useful when they are always available to the user, even at a glance. Now, with Google Play Services 8.1, the Google Maps Android API supports ambient mode, the API that provides always-on capabilities. In ambient mode, the map adjusts its style to provide a simplified, low-color rendering of the map. All markers, objects, and UI controls disappear, keeping the map on the screen while letting the user know that it is not currently ready to accept user input. An important advantage is the camera position and zoom level are retained, thus keeping the user’s context within the map.

The screenshot below show how maps appear in interactive mode and in ambient mode.

To implement ambient mode in your maps, follow these steps:

1. Set your your targetSDKVersion to 22 or higher
2. Add the following dependencies to build.gradle for your app to add the wearable support library.

    dependencies { compile com.google.android.support:wearable:1.2.0 provided com.google.android.wearable:wearable:1.0.0 } 

3. Add the wearable shared library entry into the wearable app manifest:

    <application> <uses-library android_name="com.google.android.wearable" android_required="false" /> ... </application> 

4. Add the WAKE_LOCK permission to the handheld and wearable app manifest:

    <uses-permission android_name="android.permission.WAKE_LOCK" /> 

5. Have your Activity extend WearableActivity. This will provide the overrides that notify your app when the wearable enters, exits and provides screen updates in ambient mode.
6. In the onCreate() method of your activity, call the setAmbientEnabled() method. This tells the framework that the app should enter ambient mode rather than returning to the watch face.
7. Set your map to support ambient mode. You can do this by setting the attribute map:ambientEnabled="true" in the activitys XML layout file, or programmatically by setting GoogleMapOptions.ambientEnabled(true). This informs the API to pre-load necessary map tiles for ambient mode.
8. When the activity switches to ambient mode, the system calls the onEnterAmbient() method in your wearable activity. Override onEnterAmbient() and call MapFragment.onEnterAmbient() or MapView.onEnterAmbient(). The map changes to a non-interactive, low-color rendering of the map.
9. When in ambient mode, your app can update the display every minute by overriding onUpdateAmbient(). If you need more frequent updates, check out this guide.
10. When the activity leaves ambient mode, the system calls the onExitAmbient() method in your wearable activity. Override onExitAmbient() and call MapFragment.onExitAmbient() or MapView.onExitAmbient(). The map returns to the normal rendering and is now ready to accept user input.

With always-on maps on Android Wear, you can now show maps at a glance. For more information on these APIs check out the documentation and the sample code.

Available link for download