Pick a city completely at random. Click on the city name. Pull up the card to consume the full screen. Only then will three dots will show up in top right. In that menu you can download offline map without signing in. To manage your offline maps download a second region at random. While downloading you will notice the download in your Android notification drawer. Click on the download and cancel it. You can manage your other downloaded regions from here. There is no other way to access this menu unless you are signed in. However, with my method you don't need to sign in to the maps app ever. Thank you to whoever built the app without explicitly requiring Google Play services as well. I owe you a drink.
Download offline maps in the Google Maps app without signing in
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Re: Download offline maps in the Google Maps app without signing in
#2Very cool! However, I would like something similar without Google or Apple or Microsoft ever knowing what I downloaded. Is there a privacy-respecting mapping app that supports ahead-of-time downloading of map data that actually works well?
Re: Download offline maps in the Google Maps app without signing in
#3I feel like if this gains visibility the Google Project Manager will catch wind and will quickly correct both of these regressions.
Re: Download offline maps in the Google Maps app without signing in
#4Very cool! However, I would like something similar without Google or Apple or Microsoft ever knowing what I downloaded. Is there a privacy-respecting mapping app that supports ahead-of-time downloading of map data that actually works well?
Have you tried mapy.cz?
Re: Download offline maps in the Google Maps app without signing in
#5Very cool! However, I would like something similar without Google or Apple or Microsoft ever knowing what I downloaded. Is there a privacy-respecting mapping app that supports ahead-of-time downloading of map data that actually works well?
Re: Download offline maps in the Google Maps app without signing in
#6I feel like if this gains visibility the Google Project Manager will catch wind and will quickly correct both of these regressions.
I know I am contemplating deleting this post. This method is saving my behind traveling in foreign countries without a data SIM and I wanted to help others in a similar situation. Maybe HN mods can blacklist IPs from Google for this post (lol).
Re: Download offline maps in the Google Maps app without signing in
#7Very cool! However, I would like something similar without Google or Apple or Microsoft ever knowing what I downloaded. Is there a privacy-respecting mapping app that supports ahead-of-time downloading of map data that actually works well?
https://www.magicearth.com/ is not OSS but is free as in beer, privacy-respecting, and has good UI.
Re: Download offline maps in the Google Maps app without signing in
#8Very cool! However, I would like something similar without Google or Apple or Microsoft ever knowing what I downloaded. Is there a privacy-respecting mapping app that supports ahead-of-time downloading of map data that actually works well?
OSMand https://osmand.net/ Organic Maps https://organicmaps.app/ are your best bet.
OSMand is what I use 95% of the time for offline navigation. I first discovered this when I realized you couldn't use Google Maps for navigation in Serbia in 2015. The other 5% of the time I use Google Maps or Waze directly or manually enter its route suggestions as navigation waypoints into OSMand.
Re: Download offline maps in the Google Maps app without signing in
#9Pro tip to make it even easier: just type "ok maps" into the search bar of Google Maps, crop to fit the view and press download :)
Re: Download offline maps in the Google Maps app without signing in
#10I feel like if this gains visibility the Google Project Manager will catch wind and will quickly correct both of these regressions.
I know I am contemplating deleting this post. This method is saving my behind traveling in foreign countries without a data SIM and I wanted to help others in a similar situation. Maybe HN mods can blacklist IPs from Google for this post (lol).
I really miss the Android Marshmallow era version of Google Maps before the Material Design conquest. It was such a useful map for navigation. We used it with offline maps on a tablet to travel all over Scotland.
When they redesigned it really hit home that you were the product and not the consumer of Google Maps. They removed all the useful metadata about routes like the elevation timeline. Configurable POIs were replaced with highest bidder adverts. I had to submit feedback for half a year complaining before they finally added back the Scale, and even then it was an off by default setting.
At least for me, Google Maps is only useful if I know my destination and it's no longer a meaningful discovery tool for what's around me.