Has anyone figured out the Navigation app?

[strudel#AC]

If you tether to your phone for a data connection Google Maps Navigation works great. I tested it out yesterday tethering to my Evo and it worked flawlessly

 

[rsuplido]

I tired the Navigation app this morning to work. What I did was plot the directions at home on wifi, and then started driving. I was surprised that it *DID* cache the directions. Voice prompts were working and I did notice that roads around the route do render.

I decided not to take one of turns in the directions and I was surprised that it did automatically recalculate.

So, it looks like there is some type of map library built-in, or at least cached, and it looks like you have to set your destination on wifi first.

 

[biogon]

Yeah, I expected that downloading the maps would have let me navigate within the cached region just like a standalone GPS.

Boo on Google -- nice to be able to use it like an old-school paper map, but seriously? There is no reason why the mapping function has to be in the cloud.

First, it's not like it's a hard calculation (any first-year CS student has to learn to solve the travelling salesman problem), and any old standalone GPS can do it. It's not like voice recognition like with Voice Search and Siri.

Second, there's no benefit to Google -- it's not like we get ads while navigating!

 

[booboolala2000]

Wireless Hot spot with your phone. It's free and easy. Just keep the phone plugged in because on 4G and providing a hot spot you won't have any left after you reach your destination.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[giograves]

After hearing the announcement of OFFLINE maps at Google IO, I think it was only logical for alot of people to think turn-by-turn would function since navigation is magic to most peeps even the Android geek inclined.

One of those ASS-umption dur-durps I guess.

 

[kenyee]

I was expecting it to work since all GPS devices work on cached maps. No I don't have a smartphone. I don't need one as I have a nexus.

AFAIK, the navigation mapmakers (there are only two...TomTom and Naveteq which was bought by Nokia IIRC) also provide you an engine to use to read their nav data. Just about all standalone navs use one of these two map sources/engines.

Google apparently doesn't have their own standalone one yet.

Look at NDrive and Sygic as well. I use prepaid w/ no data and run NDrive. Cost is roughly as much as 1 month of cellular data to put it in perspective...not free, but still a bargain

 

[mkiker2089]

I still think either Google or someone else will fix this. The maps are the large part. The Navy engine could be stored locally.

 

[rmysore]

After hearing the announcement of OFFLINE maps at Google IO, I think it was only logical for alot of people to think turn-by-turn would function since navigation is magic to most peeps even the Android geek inclined.

Totally agree. The way they made a big deal about it I assumed the same, especially since I have used nokia e73 for navigation with downloaded maps. This is like the assumption we made about preorders, Google has a different definition for it. We assumed that pre orders reach you before b and m, or orders will ship in the order that they came in. Apparently not for Google.

 

[pokingmon]

In due time we will get a fully functional offline GPS navigation feature in Maps- possible as the standalone Navigation app if they don't decide to just merge the two. With this annoyance of the offline maps not being of much use (as well as being complicated compared to the competition) and Apple getting into the maps thing, it's really only a matter of time.

Until then, a big THANKS for opening my eyes to FoxFi. I had no idea this was a viable solution that wouldn't get me in trouble with TMobile. Just tried it at work with my N7 and successfully browsed some blocked sites.

 

[dougiefresh66]

I tried reading the n7 outside. I can't see it. I can easily see the screen of my bionic outside. So much for 7 inch GPS

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

Soooo, you walk around in the sun with your GPS??

 

[mkiker2089]

This may seem obvious but the Nexus screen is polarized so if someone is trying to read it with sunglasses they will only see a black slate. My Kindle is the same way, as are many GPS devices.

 

[mkiker2089]

Soooo, you walk around in the sun with your GPS??

On the google app you can set it "walk" instead of drive. Of course since the app only works within wifi I can't imagine a use for it. I don't usually go hiking through office complexes. Last time I did that I nearly got arrested. Perhaps the tent was too much of a give away?

 

[Unicorn Rancher]

Do none of you have a smart phone? Navigation works just fine on my Galaxy Nexus phone. Why were you expecting a wifi-only product to be a good navigation device?

How much worse must be my Tom-Tom that doesn't even have WiFi.

 

[Unicorn Rancher]

Soooo, you walk around in the sun with your GPS??

Some people go out in the sun. Amazon.com: gps hiking

 

[John-Smith]

For some reason I thought I read something a while ago that said the GPS will work even without a wifi connection.

 

[EJT]

For some reason I thought I read something a while ago that said the GPS will work even without a wifi connection.

Gah. It does. People keep saying the GPS won't work without Wifi. It absolutely will. NAVIGATION won't work. If you cache your maps, you can walk way the hell out in the woods, and your nexus 7 will absolutely work as a GPS.

Remember folks, GPS simply locates your position on the earth. It does not tell you how to get from one place to another. That's what Nav systems do. Can a unit be both? Of course. Does it have to be? Nope.

 

[Teresa Kan]

If I use pdanet to tether between andriod phone and the tablet, I assume that I can get the routing info and direction to where I want to go.. If I only use the phone for the location search, then unplug the phone and let the tablet navigation work by itself using the satellite.. In case, I only use a small amount of data from the phone to get the routing info.. does my assumption correct??

 

[dralezero]

This may seem obvious but the Nexus screen is polarized so if someone is trying to read it with sunglasses they will only see a black slate. My Kindle is the same way, as are many GPS devices.

I have some Polar Optics glasses. Yes it blacks out the screen. But you can see it in portrait though from left and right as well. But who portraits for dash mount?

My 1.5 hr drive was cached first then it told me when to turn (which was correct) but didn't say what street. It only says street names when online. It would tell me to get on the ramp when actually I was turning onto city street after exiting. But was still the correct direction. Once I got into town it had its own idea or something because it was going crazy telling me to make uturns and the arrow was off the map. I didn't follow it because I knew where to go. Just testing. I also don't have a mount. I always rely on the voice with my phones Google nav.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

 

[MikeLip]

Download either Sygic or CoPilot. They use stored data. Neither require a data connection. Once it's installed, you're done.

 

[MantisToboggan]

This has always been the case. The cached maps are there to give you a reference. They won't give you directions. The engine which maps out your nav directions is in the cloud, not on your phone.

Is that the same with the Google Maps app?