Google Maps finally gets offline navigation, but only on Android for now

With this, you’ll be able to download an area by searching for a city, county or country, and then tapping the download button, or you can go to the Offline Areas section of Google Maps and add a new area. And while this update doesn’t impact Windows phone users at all, it does eliminate the one major advantage we had with HERE Maps and Drive.

That means, for example, that if a driver starts their journey in an underground garage without a data connection, the app will suggest a route and drive-time estimate based on typical conditions, but will then amend the advice once it gains access to live traffic and accident information.

Downloading the map for an area is incredibly simple.

Mountain View is addressing that missing feature today with the announcement that offline navigation is now making its way to the Android version of the Google Maps app today.

Before this update, using Google Maps in offline mode only allowed for interactions like panning and zooming. In default that Google Maps app will update itself every 15 days. The company announced Tuesday that it’s bringing a handful of useful new features to Google Maps that make it more functional without an Internet connection.

Once you’ve got an area saved locally, you can do a lot with it. You can get turn-by-turn driving directions, search for business information and destinations, all offline.

Google has confirmed that the offline navigation features it showed off at Google IO earlier this year are now available for Android devices, though they’re not yet ready for prime time on iOS.

Once the information has been installed, the app is created to switch “seamlessly” between offline and online modes unless forced to stay off the net.

Google says that while the user won’t see the difference between online and offline in the front, it will be working hard in the back.