I’ll tell you a little secret that may shock you. Internet access is not available everywhere in the world. I know it’s shocking right? Sometimes, when you are under the arm of the beyond, admiring the sheep and cows, you look at your phone and realize with shock that your mobile operator’s Internet does not extend that far.
This is why you need to be prepared like the Boy Scouts when you travel. For example, if you want a map, you need to download it to your phone in advance while you are still in Internet Civilization.
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With Google Maps, the process is very simple. Here’s how to do it on an iPhone, but the Android method is more or less the same. As far as I understand, this cannot be done on a computer.
Download Google Maps for offline access
After logging into Google Maps, find your destination. In this article, I just entered “Berlin”.
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Now tap on the hamburger icon on the left.
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These slides open the menu. What you are looking for is “Offline Maps”. Click on this.
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This area lists all your saved offline maps. To create a new one, click on “Custom Map”.
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A square will now appear above the area you were just looking for. Move the square to select the area you want to download. But depending on how large the area is, you may have to load more than one map.
Google Maps will show you how much space you have on your phone and how much space the map will take when loaded. When you have the area you want, click Download at the bottom.
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Choose if you want to be notified when the download is complete. If you have a very busy schedule to get out the door on your trip, you can turn this on.
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You will now see that the download has started. You can stop the process at any time by clicking “Delete”. You can also name your map by clicking the pencil icon next to the title at the top.
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If you have a decent internet connection, the map downloads are pretty quick. However, you need to keep the Maps app open for it to run as quickly as possible.
If you close the Maps application while the map is loading, you will see this.
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When the map has finished downloading, you will see it listed in the Offline Maps section.
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As you can see, the card doesn’t stay forever. Shelf life is one year. But when you click on the map you just created, you will see a refresh button. Therefore, if you are going to the same destination every year, you can renew the card and reset the expiration date to another year.
On the other hand, if you decide that you will not go there again, you can remove the card earlier by clicking the “Remove†button.
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To use the map offline, just open Google Maps and use it as usual. However, since you will not have the Internet at this point, the only part of the Maps application that will work will be the part you downloaded earlier.
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