Google Maps

Google Maps service and Google Maps apps for iOS and Android devices are around us for a long time and the company updates these apps and adds new feature occasionally. Unfortunately not all new features and updated versions get positive reviews from people and it is still impossible to develop a bug free app in the first attempt. So, here we are to discuss about the latest version of Google Maps, its features, pros, cons and other aspects.

As you already know, Google Maps is available for almost all well known mobile operating systems including Android, iOS, Symbian and Windows Phone. As Nokia has its own mapping service and app named “Here” and iOS devices come with pre-installed Apple Maps, it is quite hard for Google to hold a strong position as a mapping service for these operating systems. But still, Google Maps for iOS has an amazing interface that offers turn by turn navigation as well as street view from the main interface.

If you compare Google Maps for iOS with Apple Maps, you’ll find out that Google Maps is much more accurate than Apple Maps when it comes to location search and the explore feature is fun too. The explore feature shows all notable things associated with the particular location or place you are searching for. Obviously Google Maps for iOS is not perfect and it does have some features and things that you might dislike. For example, Google Maps does have 3D satellite view feature but you must have Google Earth app in order to use that feature.

Actually this particular feature is a part of Google Earth instead of Google Maps and using this feature requires switching between these apps. Google Maps for Android is a whole different story than Google Maps for iOS devices because of some obvious platform differences as well as limitations and restrictions one platform has while other doesn’t. Amazingly yet expectedly, Google Maps for Android and Google Maps for iOS have identical interfaces that make it easier for users to switch devices and use the same app.

Google Maps for Android comes with different layers that users can easily hide or show using the sidebar menu. Obviously Google Maps for Android is based on material design; like the iOS version, Google Maps for Android also has turn by turn navigation as well as street view. Because Android platform offers more freedom to developers, the Android version has more features than the iOS version. Users can configure the app for offline access and Google Maps for Android will save map cache for offline access.

Unfortunately Google Maps for Android has the same drawback that iOS version has; you must have Google Earth installed on your device in order to use the 3D city view feature that actually kills the whole purpose of embedding this feature into Google Maps app. Although Google Maps for Android does offer offline cache but this feature is not as efficient and effective as you might think it is.