I’m not even going to pretend that you’ve been following along with Google I/O news today because, I know you have, otherwise you wouldn’t be here now, would you?
A small yet, most welcome addition to Android was announced today at the Keynote, which was Offline maps for Google Maps on Android. This essentially does what it says on the tin with some added pizazz. Aside from just saving maps for offline use the new version of Maps lets you pinch to zoom in or out on the area of maps that you want to save, perfect if you’re going to an area you don’t know so well and want to make sure you’ll be able to find your way.
Accessing the maps that you’ve stored for offline use is done through the My Places menu and then found within the “Offiline” tab, by using GPS you can find exactly where you are within the offline maps, again, perrfect if you’ve never been there before or just need a little help in a crowded city.
Whether or not the Maps update is being pushed to all I received the update on my Nexus S and my Touchpad running CM9 so, check and you might be lucky. It’s going to be made available for those running 2.2 and above so, Grandma and her Galaxy S will be able to find her way with no 3G.
Check out the video below to see it in action: