Hacker News Reader

Comment by omaranto | Hacker News Reader

I'm not familiar with Nokia Maps at all. How is its offline feature better than Google Maps On Android's offline feature? (You call it "proper" suggesting to me that you consider better than the way Google Maps on Android does it.) I don't have a smart phone, just a WiFi only Android tablet and I've fund the offline maps features in Google Maps perfectly adequate.

View on HN

Better than GM because: Download maps on country basis (multiple countries at a time if required). Search works offline (not as good as google IMHO). Turn by turn nav works offline. Voice guidance works offline. GPS fix times are better when offline than android (with no AGPS assistance or WLAN/cellID based positioning available)

I was a Nokia user for years. Got have a Nexus7 and an android phone now. Still use an old Nokia in the car for nav as it's better! No setting off on a route, hitting a detour in a place with no signal and finding GM can't navigate anymore.

OK. I don't have any modern Android. I believe offline maps for Android is pretty new function. Right? I think in offline maps for Android you can download only selected region. Meanwhile with Nokia maps I can download map for individual country or state (in case of US).

For Android the regions you can select to save offline are severely restricted. In my recent vicinity I could select as much ocean as I desired, but no land.

The regions it is available in are undocumented.

Yes, it is pretty new, or at least I hadn't noticed it until a few months ago. And, as far as I know, you are right that to specify what to download you pick a rectangle on a map view, making it awkward to pick a whole country without getting plenty of extra stuff.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com