To navigate through foreign places is easy if you have GPS and/or cellphone connection. If travelling offline it helps to have some virtual maps at hand. “OffMaps” promises to make offline navigation possible.

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Offmaps promise is to be able to navigate without an internet connection. This is true and wrong: full search functionality needs an internet or cellphone connection – and even offline there are many POIS which aren’t found. It’s an overpromise, underdeliver.

This is how it works:

• After starting the app you search for your destination. My choice is Paris, France.
• Because I’ll download my map of Paris with zoom several layers I center the Paris map and focus on the city center.
• Then I click “Download” which asKira me to select the area to be downloaded
• A click on the map show the to-be-downloaded area highlighted. I now can change the area by again clicking on the screen an I can add more zoom layers.
• In my case I add 40 MB which results in an 8 minute download.
• For all this I need an Internet or cellphone connection. With the downloaded map at hand I now can navigate being offline.
• Besides setting the preferences, Offmaps basically features two options: Search (addresses, wikipedia entries) and Route finder
• I stay overnight at the hotel Ambassador Opera in Rue Haussmann and want to dine at Cafe d’enfer in Rue Daguerre – and OffMaps shows the 5.6km route optimized for driving or walking.
• Additionally to find routes I can search in my neighborhood for addresses, points of interest or wikipedia entries for points nearby.

For me, Offmaps is Overpromise – Underdeliver.

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