Maps.me is a great OFFLINE map program for iPhones and Android

Yes i like it too. I do not use a data plan. Maps.me driving directions and offline searches worked well for me during a recent Hawaii trip. But when i have wifi, i go back to google maps.

I have been singing the praises of maps.me for years! We lived in Europe for 5 years and used it on every single trip. We used it for driving but also for walking through cities (think Venice where it is so easy to get lost). I have not found a better NO DATA map app!!

I totally agree! I find Maps.me indispensable on any trip.

Just downloaded it. What a great app! Thanks a lot.

Creating custom offline maps with maps.me is a game changer for me. I posted my method in this thread:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/tech-tips/smartphone-app-for-maps-pre-planning-and-real-time-routing-guidance

My husband is loving this app! thanks for sharing.

Why is this app better than Google Maps or Navigator or any of the other map apps that let you download maps and work offline with GPS?

Not arguing, genuinely curious. Thanks!

Adam, it has been a while since i have used Google Maps offline. But when i did i found it a bit awkward having to highlight areas that i wanted to use off line. I was always worried that i may have missed something by not covering all the areas or failing to zoom in enough. On the other hand, the more you zoomed in, the more layers of information get downloaded. I could care less about getting a writeup on every single restaurant in a city that I was only going to be visiting half a day. I just preferred not fiddling with offline Google Maps.

For me, a map app is only used when absolutely necessary. I want it to be accurate and complete, but simple without lots of info overload. Maps.me is easy to upload the maps for a whole country and has proven to give me just enough details that i need without overloading too much and slowing down the response time of my device.

PS. Another point. Using Google unavoidable, but as much as possible, i like to find alternatives to reduce the amount of personal info collected by Google.

Why is this app better than Google Maps or Navigator or any of the other map apps that let you download maps and work offline with GPS?

With Maps.me, I can create custom offline maps by adding pins, notes and routes.

I read the great reviews about City Maps to Go. I downloaded it and have tried to work with it, but neither I, nor any of my friends (nor our children) can get a handle on it. Is maps.me easier to work with? If not, is there anyone out there who has figured out how to work with the city maps. I downloaded a map of Milan, but can figure out how to get it to show the streets level nor how to find directions from one place to another.
thank you
Lori

I downloaded Maps.me before my recent trip to France, and downloaded some maps. I wound up using Google Maps instead, to the extent I used any phone maps on the trip. I could never get the hang of Maps.me. But mostly we just used our paper maps. I would map a route on Google Maps while on wifi, go over the route on a paper map with my wife, and then she would navigate.

Here is something i just posted on tripadvisor discussing maps.me:

Maps.me is also free. It is open source.

Maps.me takes up less memory and provides all available details in a single map file. For example if i download the Vancouver Map, which is a single complete file, it includes everything in southwestern BC including well past north of Whistler and east to almost but not including Kelowna and only takes up about 50 MB. Maps.me gives you a lot of details on restaurants hotels shopping etc. and nothing is missing depending on how much you zoomed when you download (see below for comparison with google)

With Googles Map if you approximate the same area as maps.me for download, it will take almost 150 MB, which is 3 times as much memory. Another thing is if you down load a wide area some of the details are lost in the downloaded map compared to when you zoom in on a tighter area bfore downloading. For example if you make a download of southwestern bc and then download just downtown Vancouver and compare the two offline maps of the block where the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver is located, there is a big difference in the details and the number of shops and restaurants.

I would rather not have to download a wide map and then a bunch of zoomed in maps under google and switch back and forth. With maps.me there is a single map file. The details are not as great as with a zoomed in google map, but i have found the details to be pretty darn good. Certainly, major attractions, hotes, restaurants and shops are there. Also, a nice feature is that the address numbers are shown in maps.me.

Like i said if i have wifi i will use google directly. But offline, i prefer maps.me.

Edit: PS i only use a digital map if i am truly lost. I am afraid of dropping or losing my tablet. I usually get by fine with a free hotel tourist map.

Thank you for the replies. The ability to use a custom map offline sounds like a strong selling point--I'll have to give it a try on my next trip!

I had all my maps downloaded on Maps.me. I spent hours researching what to do and bookmarked those stops on each map. Great site. I am ready to start touring.

But... Then I dropped my phone (iPhone 5) and had to buy a new one (iPhone 6s). Verizon backed everything up for me then downloaded all the info onto my new phone. Guess what - no maps but my bookmarks held - isn't that weird. So last night I had to download my maps again. So the point is make sure everything is on your phone the way you want before leaving if you buy a new phone. I still have four months so I'm now prepared.
PS - Rick's audio tours didn't hold either so I'm downloading those again too.

Can someone tell me the maker of maps.me? I went to the Google Store and there were several apps called maps.me, so I'm not sure which one is the real maps.me that people are using.

Thanks!

http://maps.me/en/home

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mapswithme.maps.pro

I keep the app and maps on the SD card.

I do the same but with HERE maps. Love it!! Prep it at home, use it without data on the road. Brilliant!!

Interesting. I'll check out maps.me.

I'll also throw this out here. Last year in Havana, we were as OFFLINE as I've been for many moons. I had no cell service, and there was no wi-fi.* I used the Galileo app on my Android phone. And it worked brilliantly. I did have a paper map but it was missing some information, and didn't cover some areas we went to. We ended up relying on Galileo most of the time. I have no clue if it's better than maps.me, but it just worked, and I became the go-to navigator for our small group. One feature I liked was the "record" function, which when activated creates a record of where you've walked/driven.

*The Cuban gubmint controls communications - including mobile phone service and wi-fi. I didn't want to line up for an expensive SIM card rental. (It wasn't all that long ago that the government finally allowed Cubans to own their own mobile phones, and when I was there it didn't allow foreigners to buy SIM cards, just rent them.) Wi-fi is available, for a fee, with city parks being wi-fi hotspots. We bought cards with X minutes of wi-fi time, and went to the park one evening to get online. The place was packed. Throughout the trip I was aware of the irony that my mobile carrier is Project Fi, which provides service across a huge swath of nations - but because of the US embargo, not in that small country less than a hundred miles off the Florida coast. Sigh.