News - New Google Maps for Android offers "new mapping experience"

[HEXUS]

Update includes "live traffic updates, incident reports and dynamic rerouting."

Read more.

[crossy]

Offline maps functionality has been dropped: This might be annoying for people who have squirreled away all the useful maps they periodically use. Google says "Instead we’ve created a new way for you to access maps offline by simply entering “OK Maps” into the search box when viewing the area you want for later."

Android Authority's article on the Okay Maps "feature" (which AA describes as an "Easter Egg") shows a bit more of how this is supposed to work. Strikes me as a kludge that other mapping software makers should (rightly!) have some fun mocking.

And there's also the obvious point that offline use is not just for your "favourite" maps, it's the only way to use GMaps in areas where there is no data connection. I used it myself when on holiday in Florida to get me to the hotel (where I could pick up a US SIM for my phone).

The new app has a refreshed interface to offer a new mapping experience ... updated navigation data and "live traffic updates, incident reports and dynamic rerouting."

Presumably they mean dynamic rerouting as a result of the live traffic data, since the versions of GMaps I've used in the past all rerouted "on the fly" (translation: when the idiot trying to use it didn't go the way they were supposed to). Although I thought quite a few nav apps with traffic feeds also did rerouting.

[Barakka]

Love that you can now choose alternate routes on the directions and tick avoid motorways if wanted, always frustrated me that if you ask it give directions you didn't get to choose from different routes like on the desktop version and the iOS version.

But don't like that I can no longer have the + and - buttons for zoom on the screen, so zooming is now two handed to pinch zoom out, but they may put that back in the future I guess.

[wasabi]

The loss of offline mode make the Apple Maps-gate issue of last year pale in comparison. Best feature? - remove it. What a bunch of boneheaded user-hating gits Google have become. Pretty much everything that made them popular, they're taking away. Google Reader. igoogle, decent search without stupid paid sponsors at the top of the list, free Google Apps, Latitude, mail without forcing you into social network. I don't use any google services any more since I simply don't trust them not to discontinue it at short notice.

[crossy]

Love that you can now choose alternate routes on the directions and tick avoid motorways if wanted, always frustrated me that if you ask it give directions you didn't get to choose from different routes like on the desktop version and the iOS version.

CoPilot has been able to do the alternate routing trick for a while, and it also allows you to either say that you want to avoid a particular road and/or express preferences, (e.g. "I prefer B roads over motorways"). And CoPilot also allows you to drag the preferred route line to edit, in case there's some roadworks you know about for example, which I'm sure that the desktop GMaps also allowed.

By the way, the route show is CoPilot's attempt to give a route between Edinburgh and Birmingham airports. Although give I've got "Quickest Route" selected by default, I've got to wonder why Alternative 1 wasn't chosen.

[kingpotnoodle]

Love that you can now choose alternate routes on the directions and tick avoid motorways if wanted, always frustrated me that if you ask it give directions you didn't get to choose from different routes like on the desktop version and the iOS version.

You could do alternate routes for a while now but it was an option you had to go find in the menu after getting the selected "best" route which AFAIK was the shortest in distance (my observation anyway).

In most cases I've always found the best route was the one selected anyway, unless I knew that traffic was likely to develop before I got later into a long route so the new traffic re-routing is a good addition which a lot of paid sat-nav apps and devices have had for a long time.

Shame about the offline maps though, I hope that makes a return, it was nice to cache the maps for a countryside drive before setting off.

[Saracen]

New version? Not interested.

Getting the bloody thing of my Android devices entirely, along with just about every other piece of Google app rubbish, without risking the warranty or a bricked device? Very interested.

[Andeh13]

I have found it very unreliable to date, crashed a few times on me which forced me to pull over and re-enter all the route info.

Very frustrating as it doesn't remember my recent destinations so I have to pull over and find the postcode I am heading to. On the motorway, it's a nightmare!

[crossy]

New version? Not interested.
Getting the bloody thing of my Android devices entirely, along with just about every other piece of Google app rubbish, without risking the warranty or a bricked device? Very interested.

Tried to use GMaps while on holiday - definitely not impressed when it decided that I was somewhere other than where I actually was (and no, it wasn't a GPS issue because I switched to CoPilot and that worked fine). The lack of a decent offline mode makes it a non-starter for me in most situations.

Saracen, root your device and then use Titanium Backup to disable the apps you don't want. There's been some discussions on XDA as to whether rooting violates the warranties and the consensus was that it doesn't.

You're also not the first (nor the last I'll be bound) person to want to deGoogle their Android phone as much as possible. For example there's a fairly rambling thread here on Android Central.

And as to bricking then surely as long as you're careful then there's little chance of doing that. And even if the OS ends up non-bootable, then you're only a hard reset and reflash away from being back in action.

Best advice I've see though is to put up with it until the warranty runs out, then slap on Cyanogen and just don't install GApps.

Or trade in for an iPhone or Lumia!

[Saracen]

Yeah, I was contemplating both those routes, Crossy, and spent an entertaining few hours reading through several VERY long but useful threads on XDA. I just haven't bitten the bullet yet.

I'll probably go the Cyanogen route .... but not until either the warranty runs out, or I upgrade anyway.

[Funkstar]

I like the new version of Maps. the interface is nicer and it integrates most (if not all) the previous separate sub apps into one core. It seemed rather crazy that Navigation was a separate instance launched externally to the main Maps app. Same goes for Latitude, that should have been integrated into either Maps or Google+ ages ago.

I have had it crash on me a few times, no crash report, it just seems to exit cleanly. And I seem to have an issue with my HTC One X not obtaining a GPS lock if it is plugged in and charging, but that doesn't appear to be a Maps issue.

[Agent]

Used it for a trip this weekend, some nice new features.
Works much better when you pull off to a service station.