What is the maps app on android

10 best GPS apps and navigation apps for Android

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BackCountry Navigator

Price: Free / $9.99 / Up to $29.99

BackCountry Navigator is an excellent navigation app for hikers. It’s pretty expensive but what you get is a number of offline topographical maps. It’s perfect for those places where data services don’t exist. There are a few fun features as well. You can add favorite spots and markers on the map, view different types of trails, and more. It also has a few map choices. Buying the app gets you unlimited, ad-free use of the app. It’s powerful, but be sure to try it before you buy it. It is fairly expensive.

HERE WeGo Maps

Price: Free

HERE WeGo is one of only a few serious competitors to Google Maps in the navigation app space. It features a simple, elegant interface with mapping options all over the world. You can download maps for offline use in your region. That should help in areas with spotty data connections. HERE also shows you traffic information (where available), public transit maps, and you can customize by saving places for quick directions later. It’s all free to use. There is also a map creator app that can let you alter maps as well.

MapFactor

Price: Free with in-app purchases

MapFactor is one of the low key popular navigation app options. It includes the basic navigation and GPS features. It uses OpenStreetMap. That means you can get free offline maps that are updated monthly if you want. There are additional map options as well, but they may cost money. Some of the other features includes voice directions, cross-border routing, 2D and 3D modes, day and night themes, and more. This GPS app also has support for dozens of countries around the world. It’s not half bad for what you get.

MapQuest

Price: Free (with ads)

MapQuest has undergone many redesigns over the years. However, it’s the same sturdy service we’ve known about since the good old days. It employs the standard turn-by-turn directions. There are also other features such as live traffic updates (where available), re-routing directions based on traffic, and a service to find cheaper gas. You can even use it to call a tow truck if you break down. It’s not as good as Google Maps or as effect at finding cheap gas as GasBuddy. However, it’s a great way to kill two birds with one stone.

Maps and Waze

Price: Free

Google Maps and Waze are both excellent GPS apps. They are also both by Google. Google Maps is kind of the measuring stick for navigation apps. It has tons of locations, reviews, directions, and street-level photography of most locations. Additionally, it has accessibility features and you can download maps for offline use. Waze is a little more simple. It’s great for directions, especially on road trips or daily commutes. It uses user data to show things like traffic jams, police locations, and other useful info. Plus, Waze has a lot of fun voices for navigation. You can’t go wrong either way. They are both quite good, even if they serve different types of people.

Read more app lists here:

Maps.Me

Price: Free

Maps.me is another free navigation app and GPS app. It features offline maps, turn by turn directions, and updated maps via OpenStreetMap. There is also bookmarking locations, offline searching, traffic data (where available), and worldwide support. It’s about as close to a Google Maps competitor as it gets. It should work for most people most of the time. Some have reported some issues here and there, but nothing overly worrisome. The app is completely free with no in-app purchases. There are some ads, but they aren’t a big deal.

OsmAnd

Price: Free / Up to $8.99

OsmAnd is a different type of navigation app. It caters directly to people who want offline maps. You can download a bunch of them and most of them are pretty good. The free version of the app has a download limit. You can purchase additional downloads through in-app purchases. Some other features include turn-by-turn navigation, an offline search, maps for things other than driving, and more. It’s probably not as good as something like HERE or Google Maps for online use, but it’s among the best offline GPS apps available right now.

Polaris GPS Navigation

Price: Free / $0.99

Polaris Navigation tries to be the all-in-one navigation app and in most cases it succeeds. Its biggest feature is that it has access to Google Maps, OpenStreetMap, MapQuest maps, and Cycle Route Maps. So whatever source you want is the one you get. It also features multiple coordinate formats, trail recording, a unique waypoint management system, and your standard stuff like turn-by-turn directions. There are also a handful of features for activities like hiking, camping, fishing, hunting, and other outdoor activities. It looks old, but it works well.

Sygic: GPS, Navigation, and Offline Maps

Price: Free / $13.99 / $17.99 / $29.99

Sygic is a monumentally popular navigation app that boasts over 50 million downloads to date. Like others on this list, it provides downloaded maps for offline use except this one uses TomTom maps. It has the usual features like turn-by-turn, voice guided directions (which include voice-spoken street names so you can concentrate on driving), alternate routes, and even a speed limit display. You can unlock additional features by purchasing one of the three premium versions. The $13.99 option gives you basic features, the $17.99 option adds real time traffic updates, and the final price tier version gives you everything. It’s expensive, but at least it’s not a subscription.

Scout GPS Navigation

Price: Free / $24.99 per year

Scout GPS is actually an older GPS app with a fresh coat of paint. It used to be called TeleNav and it’s changed it’s name, icon, and appearance to give it a fresh look. It’s still a reliable and stable navigation app with all of the basic features, including turn-by-turn navigation. However, Scout GPS focuses more on people rather than navigation which gives it a unique flavor. It can do things like text people automatically with your ETA and alert you when other people need you. The location-based, social media element helps separate it from the pack. The full version costs $24.99 per year. This is also the system some car manufactures use. It’s not really important, but we like little fun facts like that.

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4 Best Offline Maps Apps for iOS, Android and Win­dows Phone

Khamosh Pathak

14 Jul 2014

Thanks to Google Maps and countless other apps, we take maps and location services for granted. While these apps are extremely powerful and helpful when you’re navigating around your homeland, things can get complicated when you’re away form your home turf. Roaming charge in foreign countries are astonishingly high and your bill can run into hundreds of dollars even for some light surfing.

In times like these it is better to have offline maps to guide you through. Download the map for the country you’re heading to, and when you have stable Wi-Fi you can forget about the expensive data plans.

Most of the apps listed here have offline search function so you can use them just like normal maps app and by turning on GPS (and not data) you can identify your current location and navigate easily. It won’t be as good as turn by turn navigation but it’s a lot better than being utterly lost.

1. Google Maps

The updated Google Maps app for Android and iOS has an offline feature but it’s really limited. You can only make the current area map offline. To do that just tap the search bar, scroll to the bottom and select Make this map area available offline. On iOS 7 it says Save map to use offline. To get the most out of the features of the updated maps app check out our detailed guide.

What is it good for? Convenience. You already have Google Maps on your phone and all if you need is an offline map of the area you’re already in, there’s no need to go looking for a whole new app.

2. Maps With Me Lite For Lots Of Platforms

Maps With Me Lite is a free no nonsense offline app for a lot of platforms (including BlackBerry). You can download offline maps for any country you like, but make sure you do so on Wi-Fi before heading out into the wild because they are pretty big downloads.

India’s map was about 100 MB (and the entire USA, which you can cherry pick by states, will cost you around 1 GB). Once downloaded though, you can pinch to zoom and pan around any area you like and relevant information will keep popping up as you get deeper into a region.

When it comes to details, Maps With Me has the basics covered. You’ll find the names for major streets easily but anything deeper than that is just physical map with no contextual data. The pro app lets you search and bookmark locations within the app.

What is it good for? Maps With Me is one of those just so you have it kind of apps. Better to download it, you never know when you might need it.

3. Here Maps For Windows Phone

If you own a Nokia Lumia phone, Here Maps come preinstalled. You can also install the app on a variety of Windows Phone devices. Here Maps is to Windows Phone what Google Maps is to the rest of the world. That doesn’t mean they’re bad. Quite the contrary. If you live in Europe or India where Windows Phone market is quite good, Here Maps offer you localized features like traffic reports and free turn by turn navigation that’s sometimes better than Google’s offering. But this depends solely on your location.

You can use Google Maps on your Windows Phone if you like but for most people Here Maps is a better alternative. When you first start app, it will ask you to download maps for offline use. If you missed it, don’t worry. From the three dotted menu, select Download Maps and select Download New Maps and download the localized map for offline use.

What is it good for? If you’re on Windows Phone, this is your best (and the only good) bet.

4. Galileo Offline Maps For iOS

Galileo is like Maps With Me but better. The offline maps download sizes in Galileo are about 60% of Maps With Me. Saving almost half of download costs and storage space is no small feat. Galileo also allows you to search through the offline maps for free, a feature that’s locked behind the pay wall for Maps With Me.

Galileo is also a well rounded maps app. The paid upgrade gets you features like driving mode, GPS tracks recording, bookmarks and a lot more. But it’s only available on iOS so Android users should still stick with Maps With Me.

What is it good for? If you’re using an iPhone, Galileo is what you should go for. It’s free and has offline search support.

How Do You Travel?

What apps/maps do you use to make your travel easier? Let us know in the comments below.

Last updated on 8 Feb, 2018
The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.

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Did You Know

GPS (Global Positioning System) was originally called Navstar.

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