Hands-on with offline Google Maps for Android devices

An updated version of Google Maps is now available on the Google Play store. The new version of Google Maps is compatible with devices running on Android 3.2 and upwards (no love for Gingerbread, it seems) and enables offline navigation support. The update also mentions detailed maps with 3D buildings and turn-by-turn voice navigation but these features don’t seem to be available for India, yet.
I’m really excited by the ability to store offline maps as it would come in handy when traveling where data roaming charges are high. Users can save maps for offline usage by hitting the menu button and choosing the “Make available offline” option. Users can choose which area of the map they want to store for offline usage like shown in the screenshot above. What I particularly like about it is it shows in real-time how much storage space the selected area would take on the device. I was able to store the entire Delhi and NCR region in just 15MB!
But offline maps come with a caveat. You cannot search for places withing the map selection or get directions. Essentially, these maps are electronic versions of paper maps, which is a little disappointing considering Nokia Maps and those from MapmyIndia and others offer complete navigation support even in offline mode. Nevertheless, it is a good feature to have on the device, especially while traveling abroad.