This blog provides a detailed guide on how to use Google Maps offline on WearOS, including step-by-step instructions for downloading maps
Google Maps on WearOS now supports offline navigation, making it easier than ever to navigate without a data connection. Offline maps are super handy if you plan to travel abroad and don't want to roam or buy a local data plan. They’re also useful if you're traveling to places where you might lose service, like on road trips, visiting national parks, or exploring remote islands. In fact, downloading Google Maps offline once saved us from getting lost out in the middle of the desert.
Steps to Download Google Maps Offline
Let’s start with how to download Google Maps offline on iPhone or Android because it's basically the same process. Step one is to fire up your Google Maps app. Step two is to hit your profile icon in the top right corner of your screen. Then tap offline maps. Select your own map. Adjust the size of the map that you want to download and just click download.
But you're not done yet. Then you have to go back to the main offline maps page and hit the settings icon in the top right corner of the screen. From there, choose if you want the map to auto-update or not and if you want it to use data or Wi-Fi to download. I recommend using Wi-Fi to download and download everything before you go offline. If you hit auto-update, that means your maps just won't expire. Otherwise, they'll expire after a while, and you won't be able to use them.
Quick Route Navigation with Google Maps
Now if you're just doing a quick one-off route, there's a much easier way to do this. All you have to do is type in where you want to go, start the navigation while you still have connection to the internet, then you can leave connection, and Google Maps will automatically save everything you need to get to your destination. It will stay saved until you get to your destination or until you exit out of the Maps app.
Exploring Alternatives: Maps.me for Offline Navigation
Okay, now for the alternative option, and actually, you might find that both of these work well together. See, Google Maps only has data from the scans that Google does themselves, but some other free maps applications use this open-source software called Open Street Maps, which means that anyone can add destinations and things to the map. That is very powerful. In many parts of the world, Google's data is better, but in some parts of the world, the collective data is better. And the best free app for this open-source collective data is called Maps.me.
For example, if I were in Guatemala, in a small town in the middle of nowhere, and I found this cool basketball court or an awesome running trail, I could add stuff to the map, and then anyone else who searched for a basketball court later would be able to find it. These are things that you probably wouldn't find on Google. Also, Google only supports offline driving navigation, while on Maps.me, you can get offline maps for walking and biking and other routes like that. The best part is, Maps.me was created with offline use in mind, and so it's super easy to download maps. Just open the application, zoom to where you want to go, and it will ask you if you want to download that map.
Considerations for Memory Usage and Map Selection
And if you're short on memory on your phone, the maps in Maps.me tend to be a little bit lighter memory-wise than the maps in Google Maps. Although you do have a little bit less control on exactly what map you want to download, Maps.me more does it in regions rather than being able to select a certain box like you can in Google Maps.
The Case for Old-School Navigation
In the end, it's not a bad idea to use both, or you could use neither because guess what? Maps on your phone make travel less adventurous. Convenient? Yes. But adventurous? No. There's nothing quite like scribbling down directions on a scrap piece of paper before journeying by land from Guatemala to Nicaragua or getting lost in Thailand on the way to a Mai Tai fighting match and having to ask locals for directions in a different language by acting everything out.
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