today i'm going to show you how to use
google maps offline and download your
own maps in 60 seconds or less then i'll
show you another free offline maps and
navigation app that might actually work
even better than google maps and finally
we'll cover one big reason why you may
want to avoid downloading maps at all so
stick to the end let's go
[Music]
offline maps are super handy if you plan
to travel abroad and don't want to roam
or buy a local data plan if you just
need to survive until you can buy that
local data plan or if you're traveling
to places where you might lose service
like on road trips or visiting national
parks or off on remote islands or
whatnot in fact downloading google maps
offline once saved us from getting lost
out in the middle of the desert so let's
start with how to download google maps
offline on iphone or android because
it's basically the same process step one
is to fire up your google maps app step
two is to hit your profile icon in the
top right corner of your screen then tap
offline maps select your own map adjust
the size of the map that you want to
download and just click download but
you're not done yet then you have to go
back to the main offline maps page and
hit the settings icon in the top right
corner of the screen from there choose
if you want the map to auto update or
not and if you want it to use data or
wi-fi to download i recommend using
wi-fi to download and download
everything before you go offline
if you hit auto update that means your
maps just won't expire otherwise they'll
expire after a while and you won't be
able to use them now if you're just
doing a quick one-off route there's a
much easier way to do this all you have
to do is type in where you want to go
start the navigation while you still
have connection to the internet then you
can leave connection and google maps
will automatically
save everything you need to get to your
destination and it will stay saved until
you get to your destination or until you
exit out of the maps app okay now for
the alternative option and actually you
might find that both of these work well
together see google maps only has data
from the scans that google does
themselves but some other free maps
applications use this open source
software called open street maps which
means that anyone can add destinations
and things to the map that is very very
powerful in many parts of the world
google's data is better but in some
parts of the world the collective data
is better and the best free app for this
open source collective data is called
maps dot me for example if i were in
guatemala in a small town in the middle
of nowhere and i found this cool
basketball court or an awesome running
trail i could add stuff to the map and
then anyone else who searched for a
basketball court later would be able to
find it these are things that you
probably wouldn't find on google also
google only supports offline driving
navigation while on maps.me you can get
offline maps for walking and biking and
other routes like that the best part is
maps.me was created with offline use in
mind and so it's super easy to download
maps just open the application zoom to
where you want to go and it will ask you
if you want to download that map and if
you're short on memory on your phone the
maps in maps.me tend to be a little bit
lighter memory wise than the maps in
google maps although you do have a
little bit less control on exactly what
map you want to download maps.me more
does it in regions rather than being
able to select a certain box like you
can in google maps in the end it's not a
bad idea to use both
or you could use neither because guess
what maps on your phone make travel less
adventurous convenient yes but
adventurous no there's nothing quite
like scribbling down directions on a
scrap piece of paper before journaling
by land from guatemala to nicaragua or
getting lost in thailand on the way to a
mai tai fighting match and having to ask
locals for directions in a different
language by acting everything out
so if adventure is what you're after
ditch the tech
and if you want to save loads of money
on your next trip make sure to check out
this video next on little known ways to
travel cheaply if you like this video
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