“Download map area” in Google Maps for Android

One way we bring you new product features is through Google Labs—a collection of fun, experimental features you can turn on if you’re interested in the functionality. In fact, Google Maps itself started as a lab. In addition to our desktop Maps Labs, Google Maps for Android has a few tricks you can try out right from your phone. We’d like to introduce you to one new experimental feature, “Download map area,” but also remind you of two other ones we already have: “Scale bar” and “Measure.”

Download map area
When you’re visiting an unfamiliar location, Google Maps for mobile is great for getting an idea of how close you are to your destination, where streets and landmarks are in relation to each other, or just for getting “un-lost.” But what if you don’t have a data signal, or you’re abroad and don’t have a data plan? We say that if you use Google Maps for mobile, you’ll never need to carry a paper map again. The “Download map area” lab in Google Maps 5.7 for Android is a step in making that statement true even when you’re offline.

Let’s say later you’re visiting Bordeaux during a trip to France. If you were to open Google Maps for mobile and zoom into Bordeaux without data coverage or wifi, you’d see the image on the left:

Left: Bordeaux with no data or wifi. Right: Bordeaux with downloaded map area
That’s not particularly useful when you’re trying to find out how close you are to the Cathedrale St. Andre. But a little advance planning and “Download map area” can help. Before you take your trip, while you still have access to WiFi or data coverage, you can open up any Places page in the world, click “More” to get the Place page menu, and download Google’s maps for a 10-mile radius.

 

Left: Tap a landmark to enter its Place page Right: Place page “more options” menu
The download can take as little as a minute or two. This download stores only the base map tiles and the landmarks on the map, so you still need a data connection to see satellite view and 3D buildings, search for Places and get directions. But we hope the level of detail available will help you find your way!

 

Left: Status screen for download. Right: Coverage of downloaded map area
All your downloaded map areas can be managed in your Google Maps cache settings so you can delete maps you no longer need or if you want to free up storage. After 30 days, all downloaded map areas will be removed from your cache; they can be re-downloaded any time.

 

Scale bar
Google Maps has approximately 20 different zoom levels that range from a 2,000 mile scale to a 20 foot scale. With finger gestures making it really quick and easy to zoom in and out, sometimes it’s not always clear what zoom level you’re at. What might be just a few streets away can be quite a long walk depending on the scale. To help with this, you can turn on a scale bar, which updates based on your zoom level.

Scale bar in the lower left
Measure
If you ever need to know the distance between San Francisco and New York (about 2602 miles) or between any other two points on the map, the “Measure” lab can help you out. Once it’s enabled, you’ll notice a tape measure icon just above the zoom buttons. After clicking that icon, you’ll be prompted to tap two points on the map and Google Maps will calculate the straight distance between those points (this direct distance is “as the crow flies”).

 

Example of the “Measure” Labs feature
To access Labs on your phone, press your phone’s menu button once in Google Maps, choose “More” and select Labs. On a tablet, click the menu button in the upper-right corner of Maps. The “Download map area” lab requires Android 2.1+ and the latest version of Google Maps. We look forward to bringing you more experimental features soon and hope you enjoy trying out Labs in Google Maps for Android.

Garmin® Selected as the Official Supplier Of Marine Navigation Systems

 

 

Garmin announced that it has been selected to be the exclusive official supplier of marine navigation, marine communication, and marine sensor equipment to the 34th America’s Cup. A full suite of Garmin electronics, which includes the award-winning GPSMAP® 7000 series of touchscreen multi-function displays (MFDs), will outfit the fleet of support boats used for the AC45 World Series, AC72 World Series, as well as the Louis Vuitton Cup, the America’s Cup Challenger Series and the America’s Cup Finals.

In collaboration with the America’s Cup Event Authority (ACEA), Garmin has developed tools that enable the most responsive management of the fleet of mark and marshal boats than ever possible before. America’s Cup mark and marshal boats can now be tracked and dispatched in real time. If conditions permit, this technological addition will give officials the ability to change the race course faster than has ever been possible in the past.

“We’re honored to have the opportunity to collaborate with the America’s Cup competition,  bringing Garmin’s reputation for quality, commitment, performance and world-class support to the sailboat racing community,” said Engelhard Sundoro, Garmin’s director of marine OEM sales and marketing. “There’s no larger stage in sailing than America’s Cup, and Garmin gets to illustrate our ability to deliver customized systems to the marine industry while showcasing our technology to the best crews and fans in the world.”

“As we work to transform the America’s Cup and broaden its appeal globally, we are making a significant investment in technology to make the event more competitive on the water and more compelling off,” said Stan Honey, ACEA, Director of Technology. “Our partnership with Garmin has resulted in a set of tools that empowers our race management team to create world-class courses that will start and stop on time, something that has not been easy to achieve in a sport dependent upon the wind.”

Android: New features to mobile search

Our thirst for knowledge extends beyond the time we spend in front of our desktop computers. At Google, we are seeing mobile search grow at an exponential rate, increasing five-fold worldwide in just the past two years – a rate comparable to the early days of desktop Google Search. Today on mobile, we can get whatever information we’re looking for anytime, anywhere.

And I’m not just talking about looking up basic information like the weather or a stock quote, which is what people used to do in the early days of mobile search. As mobile devices have become more powerful and connected to faster networks, smartphone users are doing a surprisingly diverse set of search tasks — from simple lookups, to tasks that involve multiple complex searches.

But it’s not always easy to search from a mobile device, especially with the smaller screens and keyboards. We’ve worked relentlessly to make mobile search faster, easier, and more intuitive with features like autocomplete, Voice Search, Google Goggles, Google Instant and Instant Previews on mobile. Our work in mobile has now inspired desktop innovations like Voice Search and Search by Image, two new ways to search from your desktop, announced today at our Inside Search media event. We’re also excited to introduce two new mobile features designed to make mobile search even better.
 


 

With more searches happening when people are on the go, we’ve noticed an increase in searches for nearby places. To make it easier for people to search for what’s around them, we’ve introduced new shortcuts to commonly searched local categories, like restaurants, coffee shops and bars, in the form of icons on the mobile google homepage (www.google.com):

Shortcut icons appear at the bottom of the mobile homepage. Tap “More”, to select from additional popular categories like shopping, ATMs, gas stations, etc., a new part of our simplified Places homepage (www.google.com/m/places).

On the results page, you’ll see a map with markers for your current location and places around you. When you scroll through the results, the map remains at the top of the page and adjusts automatically to the listing you are looking at. That way, you can see the listing information while still getting location context from the map. Tapping on a result will quickly show you more about a place including reviews and other useful details. Discovering great places nearby has never been easier on your mobile phone.



Another mobile improvement we’ve introduced today is an easier way to build longer, more complicated searches. You can now add suggested phrases to the search box and “build” your search piece by piece. This feature is already available on the Google Search app for Android and iOS devices and we’re now making this available on www.google.com from your mobile browser. Watch the video below to see how you can search faster with less typing.

These new mobile features are now available on www.google.com on Android (version 2.2+) and iOS (version 4.0+) in 40 languages worldwide.

If you would like to learn more about today’s announcements, visit the Inside Search website, our new one-stop shop for Google search tips, features and an under the hood look at our technology. Check the site later today and you’ll find a recording of the event, answers to common questions and links to other blogs posts today on the Official Google Blog, Inside Search blog and the Chrome blog.

We hope you enjoy these new search features and we look forward to bringing you further improvements by making mobile search even faster, easier, and more useful.