Hi. We're traveling to Tuscany in September. Renting a car part of the time and using our our iPhone GPS for driving navigation. Using AT&T International Day Pass so we'll be (hopefully) using data. I've been trying to get info on the language used by the apps. I'm assuming it's in English but how does that work? Is it English with a best guess pronunciation or somehow in the country's language for streets, landmarks, etc. and U.S. English for general directions ("turn right in 400 feet")? Also will it be in feet/miles or meters, etc.? We speak almost no Italian. Help and advice greatly appreciated.
Posted by
SoCal
934 posts
At least in Google Maps, all the things you asked about can be set to your preferences in the app Settings.
Posted by
TX, USA
4578 posts
It works just like at home. The pronunciation is horrible and I have heard some interesting theories on that - but it’s recognizable. Ha!
I download the area I will be traveling in as an offline map so that I 1) save data and 2) still have my map if I find myself where there’s no cell service.,
Posted by
OP
2 posts
Thank you everyone for the quick replies. I will make notes of all of this.
Regards,
Paul
Posted by
Queens, NYC
568 posts
In my experience of using Google Maps on an iPhone for real-time navigation:
The language matches the language that you are using Google Maps in. So if your app is in English, then the announcements will be in English. As others have mentioned, non-English names will generally be badly mangled pronunciation-wise. This may be a bit better in Italian but can lead to awful results in, e.g., French, where something like Chemin des Oiseaux will probably come out as something akin to "keh-min dehz oy-see-awks," which is not at all how it is pronounced. But I digress.
The distance units (and temperature units) can be set directly in Google Maps. There are three options: Miles, Kilometers, and Automatic. The first two are self-explanatory; Automatic gives directions in miles or kilometers based on where you are, i.e. miles in the US and UK, and kilometers everywhere else (as far as I'm aware), including Italy.
I know as an American (you don't specify you are, but I will assume based on your mention of US English and US customary units) you may not have instinctive familiarity with metric units, but I recommend changing to Automatic. The biggest reason is that it will match the signs that you are seeing all around you. If your phone is telling you to take the "exit in 500 meters" and you see a sign for an exit that is in 500m, it's easier to confirm that is the exit that you want, versus if your phone tells you to exit in "a quarter mile" and you see a sign for an exit that is 400m away -- that's probably it, but you also probably don't want to be doing unit conversion on the fly.