Google Maps – Offline in a 10 Mile Radius Only

A couple of weeks ago, first reports emerged that Google is in the process of offering an offline component for their great maps application. This was at first great news to me as one of the things that keeps me with Symbian is the availability of Nokia Maps and navigation that can be used in full offline mode with maps of full countries and continents downloaded to the device in advance. Anything else is simply not affordable with steep data roaming tariffs. After Google's latest maps release with offline capabilities, however, I am quite disappointed. Only strips of 10 by 10 miles can be downloaded for offline use and no car navigation is possible even within this limited area as reported by the NY times here. No good for me.