Google Maps app for Android offers offline feature, iOS version coming soon

This could come in handy.

Google has announced that its Google Maps application for Android is now capable of storing regional data, especially in cases where you’ll be going into parts of the world without Internet access. By the company’s guess, roughly 60 percent of the world is without Internet today.

Per the company’s press statement:

Now you can download an area of the world to your phone, and the next time you find there’s no connectivity—whether it’s 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.

Users will be able to download an area, moving into offline mode automatically when it recognizes you’re 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. By default, the app will only download areas to your device when you are on a Wi-Fi connection to prevent large data fees.

The feature was first previewed during the Google I/O conference back in May and will be available for the iOS version of Google Maps soon.

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

Via Google