How to download Google maps offline on Android. How to use Google Maps without an Internet connection. How much space does saved Google Maps take up?

The Google Maps app offers an offline mode, which is ideal for situations where you need to get directions or find out where you are, don't have Wi-Fi, have a poor 4G signal, or just don't want to use up your mobile data. .

Many people use Google Maps on a daily basis, with some completely trusting it to navigate their way around. If you've ever traveled to a new city and needed to find the streets you need, you should know how helpful having maps available at any time can be. Below you will learn how to use the Google Maps app offline.

How to use Google Maps offline.

How to Use Google Maps Offline

The only caveat to using Google Maps offline is that you need to access it online first to download and save the necessary data first. You'll need to do some work at home, or at your hotel if you're traveling, before you can leave the walls of your accommodation and use the cards without a network connection. Your actions:

Open Google Maps (online) and find the location you want. You can either use your current location to save an area around you, or find an area where you can head to in the future.
Once you've found the location/area you want to save for offline use, the easiest way to load it is to go to the options menu by clicking on the three-line (hamburger) icon and then clicking on the Offline Maps icon.

Now tap your map at the top of the screen and you will be presented with a message that says “Load this area?”
Drag the map into the blue square until the area you want appears in it. Using two fingers, zoom in on the map for more detailed information about the location you are interested in. Use your fingers again to zoom out and cover a larger area.
You will notice that the file size will automatically update at the bottom of the screen. The larger the area you want to save, the larger the file size will be.
When you are satisfied with everything, click on the “Download” icon.
You can also navigate to the download area by resetting the pointer icon or by finding the area you're interested in, then clicking the box at the bottom (as if you were looking for images or an exact address) and clicking download on the right side.

You won't be prompted to name the downloaded area right away, but you can do so later through the offline map area you've entered.
Once you've downloaded the map to your device, you can access it by tapping the menu icon in the top left corner of the Google Maps home page and returning to the offline map screen.
You'll also see the expiration dates and file sizes of any maps you've downloaded. Cards expire after 30 days unless you use or renew them.
You can also remove previously saved maps from this screen by clicking the three dots icon to launch the options panel.

If you don't want to lose your downloaded maps, you can set them to automatically update before they expire.
Click the gear icon in the top right corner of the offline maps screen and make sure the first option, which automatically updates offline maps, is turned on.
You can also choose whether you want your maps to update over Wi-Fi or using mobile data.

Offline card restrictions and other options

Once you download the map, you can use it just as if you were connected to 4G Wi-Fi. However, there are some limitations to the functionality of maps like this, mainly regarding the size of the location you are looking for. You cannot download a map of, say, all of Russia. The square you draw around the area you want is limited in size, and it is not possible to load information that exceeds 1.5GB of memory. Plus, you also won't be able to access walking directions, live traffic information, and route changes if you're using Google Maps offline.

Additionally, downloaded maps require quite a bit of storage space to store the detailed information they provide, so we recommend connecting to Wi-Fi before downloading all the maps you need. Keep this in mind when you choose how you want to update your offline maps if you don't want them to expire. A Wi-Fi connection isn't that hard to find these days, so we suggest limiting automatic updates to that network only.

Hiking routes are not available offline.

You can also use offline maps while keeping your mobile data active for other apps. Open the Google Maps menu and turn on Wi-Fi mode. You'll still be able to use your offline maps, which will save not only your mobile data, but also your phone's battery life.

Are you comfortable using offline Google Maps? Tell us about it in the comments.

Google Maps is one of the most popular and reliable navigation services, but it is not without its drawbacks. One of the main complaints from users about Google Maps is that navigation only works with the Internet and requires a very good signal to draw the area. Fortunately, Google Maps can be used offline, but this great feature is useless if you don't take into account the points described in the article. So, are you getting ready to go on a road trip or heading out into uncharted territory? Then these instructions for using Google Maps offline are for you.
Before you can use Google Maps offline, you need to download the area or region you are interested in. An offline map of the area must be downloaded before you move away from the Internet source.

It is worth noting that the cards that you can save offline have quite large volumes. For example, you can completely cache large cities such as Kyiv, Minsk or Moscow. They also take up quite a bit of space in flash memory, sometimes 1.5 GB, depending on the downloaded region. There is a way to download this data to an SD card to save space on your phone's memory. To do this simply go to Menu > Offline Areas > Settings > Storage Settings and switch from Device to SD card.

It's also worth noting that the cache of these cards expires after 30 days. This happens because the maps themselves are updated, they are dynamic and require adjustments. For example, a new restaurant has appeared in the city, or a dam has blocked the river and it is no longer on the map. Google wants you to have the latest version of Maps for the best user experience.

So that your “saved maps” do not need to be downloaded again, simply activate “automatic update of offline maps” in the settings. Now your card cache will be be updated regularly and you will always have the latest version of Google Maps. Also in the settings you can set the update only via Wi-Fi to save the gigabytes of your mobile Internet provided by your telecom operator.

How to download and save offline Google Maps

Open the Google Maps app
Find the area or area you want to download
If you searched for a specific location, a name bar should appear at the bottom of the screen. If not, simply press and hold a button somewhere on the map to show that section. Click on it to display other options
Then click "Download"
You can now zoom in and out, making the loading area larger or smaller.
After selecting the area you are interested in, click the "Download" button in the lower right corner

After downloading your maps, you can navigate and find directions using GPS just like in the online version, but without using the Internet. As you can see, everything is quite simple and convenient. It is also worth noting that not all elements from online maps will be available in offline Google maps. For example, some walking and cycling routes are not transferred when the map cache is saved. Everything else works as expected. You can find the addresses you need, find companies, and easily navigate on the map.

How Google Maps can help us offline and how to save parts of the map to our smartphone for use without the Internet you will learn from today’s article.

Google maps online

We've become accustomed to maps on our phones. Moreover, the majority uses Google maps because it is familiar and convenient. Usually in our environment, I mean cities, there are no problems with the Internet.

Only in rare places does the mobile Internet signal not reach our smartphone, but usually these are very small areas, in which you can’t even get lost, just try to find them.

What to do if there is no Internet

But what to do if you need to go to the outback. To the village, to visit relatives, for a fishing or hunting holiday. Often in remote places, not only is there no Internet, but mobile communications are received very sporadically. In this case, you can take care of your orientation in advance and download maps of the desired location in advance. And already on site we will be able to use the card without the Internet. How to save Google maps offline read below:

The larger the area needed for conservation, the more space we will have to allocate for them.
Now, when we arrive at our goal, we can do just fine without any Internet, simply by calling up the saved offline map through the menu. But remember, the offline map corner will be stored in the smartphone for 30 days, after which the procedure will have to be repeated.

Greetings, dear readers! Leafing through the pages of the “Roads of Life” blog, you have probably noticed more than once that we try to make detailed route maps with attractions marked on them. This is convenient; you can immediately imagine where this or that object is located and estimate the approximate distance to it. However, there is one drawback - the blog only works online and, accordingly, you can also view all the maps on it if you have an Internet connection.

But what should you do if you want to take with you a map you like with a ready-made route and markers on the map, and not look for Wi-Fi points in an unfamiliar city, but use it offline? I would like to please you, everyone has such an opportunity! You can download any Google map with our blog tags and take it with you. Today I will tell you how to do this.

First of all, go to the page with the travel route.

Find the Google map in the text and click on the “Enlarge map” button.

When the map is enlarged, we find an icon with three dots on the sidebar, as in the picture below.

Click on the icon and select “Download KML” from the drop-down list.

In the window that opens, leave everything unchanged and click “OK”, and then save the file.

Hooray! Half the battle is done! The map has been downloaded, all that remains is to open it.

Go to the folder where all files are downloaded by default (usually the “Downloads” folder), find the desired map with the .kmz extension and copy it to your mobile device in the usual way. Don’t be alarmed that the extension has changed; .kmz is an archived .kml file.

If you downloaded directly to your smartphone, look for the saved kml file in the Download folder.

We will open the .kmz file using the very cool program maps.me. If it is still not in your mobile device, then we urgently run to the official website and download the latest version for your gadget.

Why is maps.me so useful? Maps.me is an application with free offline maps of the whole world. The maps are very well detailed: restaurants, parks, cafes, ATMs... Now you will find literally everything in an unfamiliar city. In addition, you can put your own marks on the map. Your movements are tracked by a GPS navigator. So it’s not at all possible to get lost with maps.me, although it may be possible, but you have to try very hard :) The application is absolutely free and will save a lot of nerves and money when roaming.

So. We got a little distracted. Download the application from the official website and install it on your mobile device.

After installation and launch, the program will automatically offer to download a map of the area where you are currently located. This may or may not be done if the purpose of your visit is another country or region.

Go to the program menu and find the “Download maps” function.

Then we load the area on which we will apply marks. We wait a bit while the map loads.

Last step left! Apply the markers saved in the .kmz file to the prepared map to use it without an Internet connection. To do this, open the file on your mobile device using the usual File Manager, having previously specified the folder in which it was saved when copying.

Hooray! Tags loaded! All you have to do is charge your mobile device and hit the road! 😉

On a note! If you download the map directly to your smartphone, bypassing the computer, a situation may arise when the program writes that the labels are loaded, but in fact they are not. The solution to this problem is simple. Try using the described instructions to download only the kml layer with labels, and not the entire map. To do this, during “Export to kml” (see screenshot above), you need to select the name of the desired layer instead of “Entire map”.

PS: if during the installation process you encounter any unexpected situations, or you want to get acquainted with the rest of the functions of the maps.me program, as well as get answers to the most common questions, look at the official website in the “Help” section or write to “Service” support."

In addition to maps.me, be sure to install the following applications on your phone: Hotellook (android, IOS) and Aviasales (android, IOS). Access to hotel and plane ticket booking systems will always be at hand. They have helped me out more than once! Have a bright and unforgettable trip!

In one of the recent updates, the Google Maps application for Android received a number of new features related to working without access to the Internet. Let's see what offline capabilities Google Maps now has.

The ability to fully work with the Google Maps application without access to the Internet, announced in May at the Google I/O 2015 developer conference, was truly a surprise. This includes address search, POI search, planning, and changing routes. The functions are really useful, but few people expected such a step from such a progressive and Internet-oriented company.

(Fragment about Google Maps at the presentation from 1:24:08)

About six months have passed, and now all the promised offline functions can be used in the current version of the Google Maps application for Android.

Offline navigation and working with Google Maps without the Internet may be necessary when access to the World Wide Web may be difficult in a particular place, it is unprofitable to use the Internet while roaming, or for other reasons.

At the moment there are many applications, including free ones (for example), aimed at using maps without access to the Internet, but we definitely welcome the emergence of new offline functions of Google Maps. The user has a wider choice of suitable solutions.

There have been some solutions related to the offline operation of Google Maps before. For example, the ability to download a selected area on a map has been available for several years. At first this feature was present in the experimental development section, but later became available in normal mode.

But until recently, the value of offline use of the Google Maps mobile application was very small, because it was impossible to perform an address search, find the establishment of interest by request in the search bar, or build a route to the desired place. Now a lot has changed.

Let's note the main functions of the Google Maps application for Android related to working without access to the Internet:

downloading a selected area on the map for offline access (the option existed before);
address search, search for establishments, companies, ATMs, gas stations, etc. (POI);
viewing a brief description, operating mode, contact information (if specified), ratings from users of the object of interest;
planning a route and measuring the distance between points;
navigation mode along the selected route with automatic adjustment of the route in case of deviation.

How to use these offline features?

First, you need to first download the area of interest on the map. Address search, POI search, route planning, etc. without the Internet will work in this downloaded area. You will not be able, for example, to search for ATMs in Dnepropetrovsk if you have only downloaded the section of the map with Kiev.

And then you can use Google Maps without the Internet, as if you were working normally. Please note that the detail of downloaded maps for offline access will be more modest.

When selecting an area to download, the program first estimates how much data this area can occupy. Note that the application overestimates the estimated volume, and greatly. For example, having chosen the area covering Kyiv, instead of the stated 250 MB, the downloaded map took only 52 MB.

The list of sections uploaded for offline access is located in a separate menu item. You can update data or delete unnecessary areas.

If the downloaded area includes several settlements, there are no restrictions for building routes between these settlements. By the way, with offline access only car routes are used.

The quality of the routes laid is very high. Thanks to the advanced algorithms used in Google Maps for this.

The navigation mode itself along the selected route is quite convenient. The most necessary settings and functions are there, but, of course, special applications for car GPS navigation, such as iGO, will be noticeably more advanced in this regard.

We're very excited about the new offline features added to Google Maps. Now, even if you have difficulty accessing the Internet, the Google Maps application will still be very useful.