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Old 01-02-2013, 11:36
johnhowell
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Dear All,
I use the Navigation application on my HTC Desire S here in the UK.

I am due to holiday in Canada soon and wondered if the Navigation application would still work?

Does it automatically recognise that I am in Canada? Would I have to download or buy maps of Canada?

Many thanks,
John
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Old 01-02-2013, 11:39
Stuart_h
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Dear All,
I use the Navigation application on my HTC Desire S here in the UK.

I am due to holiday in Canada soon and wondered if the Navigation application would still work?

Does it automatically recognise that I am in Canada? Would I have to download or buy maps of Canada?

Many thanks,
John
In Maps you can select to download 'chunks' of map for use offline. its in the settings. As long as you have space on your phone I believe that each chunk can be about 82mb worth of map and that you can have 10 chunks. That allows for quite a bit of offline mapping

The navigation is a little flakier (if i recall from when i used it in the US). its best if you can 'set your route' before leaving using wifi. but that may have improved with recent updates.
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Old 01-02-2013, 11:40
The Sack
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Google could do themselves a massive favour and allow full country downloads.
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Old 01-02-2013, 12:29
finbaar
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Google could do themselves a massive favour and allow full country downloads.
I completely agree with that but it seems the big G thinks we all have unlimited data and a good connection no matter which country we are in so I don't think they will do it.

I have built in sat nav now but my next car may not so I had a play with Google Navigation and thought it was OK. I would still buy CoPilot or Navigon though as a back up as they only cost about 40 quid.
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Old 01-02-2013, 12:42
flagpole
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the navigation application on android is principally designed to download maps as it goes. this may not be ideally suited to when you are roaming. whilst it will probably work. there is the issue of the money.

better would be an offline navigation app.

this one is pretty good:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ndroid.OSM.ALL

and you will be able to download the maps for canada before you go.
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Old 01-02-2013, 13:27
niceguy1966
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Cache the maps you need before you go, and download NavFree (and download the Canada maps) before you go.

Both free options, and you have two chances to have a working solution when you land.
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Old 01-02-2013, 16:43
johnhowell
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Thank you all for your replies. I will look into the downloads before going.

Cheers,
John
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Old 01-02-2013, 16:56
gomezz
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the navigation application on android is principally designed to download maps as it goes
All the better to keeps tabs on its users.
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Old 01-02-2013, 18:50
c4rv
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Thank you all for your replies. I will look into the downloads before going.

Cheers,
John
do you have wifi in your hotel, its quite common in the US and canada. You can cache the maps there.

Also what are going to do for data, you can get a payg sim (as long as your phone is unlocked) in canada.

Google maps does not take up much data, even without pre-caching you are only talking about a few tens of mb.
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Old 01-02-2013, 19:12
flagpole
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do you have wifi in your hotel, its quite common in the US and canada. You can cache the maps there.

Also what are going to do for data, you can get a payg sim (as long as your phone is unlocked) in canada.

Google maps does not take up much data, even without pre-caching you are only talking about a few tens of mb.
A few tens of mb? So like £100 quid's worth of data roaming then?
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Old 01-02-2013, 19:19
Thine Wonk
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All the better to keeps tabs on its users.
Or to make sure it's as up to date as possible and to save unnecessary storage on small devices and excess bandwidth use for the provider of the free service + the user.
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Old 01-02-2013, 22:16
gomezz
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Unnecessary storage? You can get the whole of Europe in little over 2GB. Peanuts.
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Old 01-02-2013, 22:34
Thine Wonk
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2GB is not peanuts for a mobile device mate, not really. It's quite a lot if it's unnecessary. It's also a lot of extra data to be served on a free service that generates no revenue from ads like YouTube.
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Old 01-02-2013, 22:47
flagpole
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I think the truth is probably somewhere in between. There are reasons and it also suits Google's agenda.
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Old 01-02-2013, 23:05
gomezz
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2GB is not peanuts for a mobile device
Are you posting from the 1990s?
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Old 01-02-2013, 23:16
flagpole
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Are you posting from the 1990s?
There are plenty of phones with 8gb of gross storage.
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Old 02-02-2013, 09:43
c4rv
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A few tens of mb? So like £100 quid's worth of data roaming then?
why would you use data roaming ? As I said, get yourself a local sim when you land or pre-purchase from the UK.
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Old 02-02-2013, 10:01
John_Patrick
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Cache the maps you need before you go, and download NavFree (and download the Canada maps) before you go.

Both free options, and you have two chances to have a working solution when you land.
I agree, NavFree is what we used in Florida (albeit on the iPad).

On the iPad though, you also need to download a voice, im not sure if thats the same for android. Luckily we had wifi in the villa we had so got the voice pack once there.
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Old 02-02-2013, 10:04
Cpl_Carrott
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This sums up perfectly why i use Nokia Maps, Because it simply wipes the floor with Google maps in every way possible, and not only does it offer complete offline navigation it's free!

That's also why my next phone will be a Lumia!
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Old 02-02-2013, 10:07
johnhowell
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Thanks for the further messages. My phone does have 8GB storage card inserted with approx. 5.7GB free - after downloading 7 blocks of ~80MB GoogleMaps. This is the limit, it will not allow another download.

Will look in to the NavFree as a backup.
John
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Old 02-02-2013, 10:14
johnhowell
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NavFree Canada Map 705MB!
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Old 02-02-2013, 10:49
Thine Wonk
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You have to remember that google maps is able to go down to much more detail with all the different zoom levels and additional information.

I can download a huge amount from google maps in 1 block, if you can get 8 then surely thats enough for anybody until they get to a wifi hotspot or hotel to download more if they need it.

2GB is a lot of data to be transferred per user from google for a free service. I think this is a sensible restriction.

I'm amazed it's free, but some still aren't happy with 2GB worth of maps free and a free service.
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Old 02-02-2013, 13:06
whoever,hey
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All the better to keeps tabs on its users.
Its great for live traffic updates
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Old 02-02-2013, 20:08
flagpole
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why would you use data roaming ? As I said, get yourself a local sim when you land or pre-purchase from the UK.
It seems at least plausible that the op may not want to do that.
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