Save Google Maps to SD card on Android phone.

[TheForce]

Does anyone here use their android phone as a GPS? How do you deal with a situation where you have no or slow internet connectivity?

On my old windows Mobile phone I had a program running on it that would save my Google maps to my SD card and then when I had no internet connectivity, It would search for maps on the card. Is there such a program App for Android? I've been searching but so far most of the stuff is quite awkward. I really need a good offline mapset for my android Thunderbolt but haven't found anything yet.

 

[Hall]

Looks like it's partly built-in already.... Android Maps: 3D Maps Offline, Compass Orientation

 

[TheForce]

I don't know what you meant by being built in already???
I tried a few of them but they are complex to do. The download and setup takes a long time depending on the number of zoom levels you need. I did a 200mile square around Las Vegas and it never did finish downloading. Then I tried a 20 mile square and it got to about 2% after 2 hours. I will try the process suggested in your link and maybe it works a bit better.

 

[digiblur]

I bought CoPilot Live a while back when it was on sale. It stores the maps on the sd card. Works well.

 

[Steve Mehs]

I have yet to run into that situation. I've been using my Evo as a GPS since the second week I had it every single work day and I have yet to run into a situation where I have no service. I've used Google Navigation with success when I have full 4G coverage, when I'm in the middle of no where with 1 bar of service roaming and everything in between.

 

[Jared Twomey]

I use Google maps day to day, but I did download and use a program called NavDroyd for a trip to Canada recently where I didn't want to use a data plan. It works pretty good.

 

[Steve Mehs]

Speaking of canada, anyone know of a way to disable the auto English/metric? When I get real close to the Canadian border (as in being able to see canada) Google Navigation starts giving me directions in metric. I actually take great offence to this.

DELETED off-topic rant..

 

[TheForce]

Digiblur- CoPilot Live seems to be what I need. Not very expensive either. I'm downloading it now but the first negative will hopefully be short lived. The map download MUST be done with wifi turned on. The hotel wifi here is not very fast, about 600kbps.

I looked for an option to select my LTE but no choice that I could find. I should be able to test it in a couple hours.

Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

I am deleting the anti-Canada rant. There is no reason for it. Off-topic and offensive.

 

[TheForce]

The 200 megs of map data downloaded with hotel wifi in about 3 hours! Its working great. digiblur figured out what i needed. I'll be testing it out where there is no phone signal / service later today. The entire north america looks to be about 1.6Gb so i'll wait until i get home to download that.

Looks like this GPS project cost me $35 ($30 for junk that doesnt work and $5 for copilot). Still, cheaper than what i once paid for TomTom.

Sent from my iPad using SatelliteGuys app

 

[rockymtnhigh]

The 200 megs of map data downloaded with hotel wifi in about 3 hours! Its working great. digiblur figured out what i needed. I'll be testing it out where there is no phone signal / service later today. The entire north america looks to be about 1.6Gb so i'll wait until i get home to download that.

Looks like this GPS project cost me $35 ($30 for junk that doesnt work and $5 for copilot). Still, cheaper than what i once paid for TomTom.

Sent from my iPad using SatelliteGuys app

Good for you! Too bad it wasn't the good old days where google gave you 24 hours to refund an app. The 15 minute thing stinks. Although compared with the click it you bought it thing on Apple, its still better.

And I see you figured out how to turn on your signature from your ipad.

 

[TheForce]

Good for you! Too bad it wasn't the good old days where google gave you 24 hours to refund an app. The 15 minute thing stinks. Although compared with the click it you bought it thing on Apple, its still better.

And I see you figured out how to turn on your signature from your ipad.

Must have been the older version because I just updated the app and now it works. What I like is the free trial period. The printer pro app i told you about works that way. Install it for free try it on some test prints and THEN you buy.

Now that you have the ipad in use a lot, how do you like the keyboard and spell checker? I shut off the spell checker because i got tired of it guessing the wrong spelling of simple words. But some other things like cap I for i doesnt work and auto insert of ' for doesnt gets shut down with auto spell shut off. I recall the older version of the OS we originally had with the ipad worked much better.

Sent from my iPad using SatelliteGuys app

 

[TheForce]

Back to topic--

The Copilot GPS worked great today. I had no service where I was traveling and the satellite receiver and maps covered me fine with plenty of detail. This is a real bargain application.

Another thing I liked is the off road navigation capability. I was exploring for an old ghost town in Death Valley region today and successfully found it. None of the other GPS apps worked at all.

Sent from my iPad using SatelliteGuys app

 

[Ramy]

I will have to try that Copilot also. Not been very many places without phone signal, but it could happen.

 

[Ilya]

I don't know if TomTom has an Android version, but I've been using it for years on my Windows phones and now on the iPhone. All maps are preinstalled and it works great even if there is no phone reception at all.

 

[diogen]

Copilot comes with all Dell netbooks equipped with GPS chips.
Software is for Windows but IIRC the maps are the same...

Diogen.

 

[TheForce]

Ilya- I had TomTom too, with my old Windowws Mobile phones and it worked well. I also bou8ght the little BT GPS receivers for my earlier phones that had no internal GPS. The one thing about TomTom is the cost. They are very expensive.

The CoPilot cost me $4.99 including alll North America map set.

I just got back from all day roaming around Death Valley where I had no cell phone signal. Sure was nice to use Copilot on the Thunderbolt. I have no complaints. In fact it is more robust than my older TomTom and much easier to use. (Could be that the higher power phone has a bit to do with that too.

I have found one issue with it. After using it all day, when I got back to the Hotel my phone would not access LTE service here in Vegas. I had to reboot the phone. This is the second time now that I have had to reboot the phone after using CoPilot for awhile. Must not be releasing memory.