Review: OffMaps

Overview

Offmaps does everything that Google Maps would do for you and more. The most important function that it proposes is downloadable maps. If you have ever ventured outside the vast vast area of coverage (Yea right!)  that your cellphone provider offers, than you have found yourself desiring this; and now you are a few clicks away from buying it.

Features

You think you are in Google, but you're not. You have found your way into the waiting arms of the map catcher. Now you ask - What does OffMaps give you? Well here are a few of its features.

• Download maps with the amount of details you need. You can later use these to fit your purpose when you are no longer online. You can use your finger to chose the area.
• You can search for a destination through an address, point of interest, or through wikipedia.
• You can also view the map in various modes, which include night mode.
• The new version also boasts that it gives the capability of finding directions.
• The map can also be viewed in landscape mode, which is slightly more interesting.
• Last, but not least, there is the ever so powerful GPS feature that locates you on the map.

The Breakdown

The Good

This is an application that I have long searched for - Climbed mountains and swam sees for. Well, I would have, given the chance. It's a great application if you are in an area with no internet and need to find your way. It shows you the pre-saved map and you can save yourself a lot of trouble by navigating it. The different viewing modes are ultra cool. Personally, I love the night mode. Makes me feel like I am being deceptive, undercover almost. I also appreciate the wikipedia points of interest. I found a few cool places that I would have never looked for other wise. It's as easy as 1, 2, and 3. Similar enough to Google Maps that it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to maneuver this one. The Bad Now starts the evils of the application. To begin with it takes a bit of time to load and takes memory space to save a detailed map, which is expected and not really a complaint but a warning. Most of the time the application gives a "no results found" to almost anything. This is something that I have seen complaints about on iTunes as well. I also had trouble finding addresses online, which I must say is a tough cookie to swallow on a navigational app. Since OffMaps requires you to pre-save any points on the map that you might need when the Internet is off, I don't see how it would be of any use if you were in dire need of finding a sushi restaurant in downtown Kuala Lampur.

The Ugly

You cannot find directions. Or at least I couldn't. I typed in the easiest addresses and I couldn't find them or the directions to them. However, I did find a point of interest and directions to it. If you need specific addresses you are on your own or so it seems. I would imagine you would need something like that to navigate.

The Verdict

I would buy OffMaps if I knew I was going to a place where the Internet might give me trouble. I would definitely buy this app and store my local area if I was an iPod Touch user. I would definitely buy it as a point of reference, as a glorified Thomas Guide. But, I would not get it to solve all my navigational dilemmas in life, and definitely not to replace the pre-loaded maps software. If the first few features are important to you, as they would be I imagine to many individuals, than by all means buy it. But, as you can see by the pics, I live in LA and don't have much of a problem loading the much faster and accurate Google Maps, so I wouldn't.

After 2.2 Update

I would say that the new update is slightly better at handling and I understand it better. Now I know that OffMaps does not find addresses. The points of interest are still lacking even though it is functional. Finding an exact location is nearly impossible since it doesn't take addresses, and boulevards run forever. Overall it is getting better. There is more support for it and the developer really seems to be listening to his/her critics. I feel happy about this update. It's almost as if this is only going to get better. I will raise my rating by .5, and cross my fingers that the developer keeps up the good work. They are going up against Google and that isn't easy. I feel like if they get everything up to that standard and keep the downloaded maps than this would be more than worth it.

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