Can I map my phone?

May 28, 2008 9:21 AM

Can I download Google Maps for, say, London, to my mobile phone - which I can then access around town? Without going on WAP?

I've got a Sony Ericcson k810i and live in London.

It'd be dead handy to have a map of the city on there with a sensible level of zoom (200m/1000ft on the scale in the corner) which I can check if/when I get lost.

Not bothered about keeping it updated or satellite view - London doesn't change that fast and I'm just routefinding.

Does Google let you do this? Would having only one level of zoom and no satellite pictures be too huge for a mobile?

posted by Cantdosleepy to Technology (5 answers total)

I think the little copyright notice on all the images points to "no."

GPS is probably what you want. Notice they charge for various map packages.

Also, paper maps are awesome. You can hang them on your walls when you get home.
posted by jeffamaphone at 9:28 AM on May 28, 2008

Response by poster: Paper maps are indeed awesome (you're not a londoner if you don't have an A-Z) but oftentimes I find myself without the book in the city in the rain all confused.
posted by Cantdosleepy at 9:33 AM on May 28, 2008

There's no official Google solution for this yet (I'd like it too) but there are third party solutions that will store locally to a phone, yes.

First hit: Mobile GMaps
posted by rokusan at 9:47 AM on May 28, 2008

rokusan beat me to the Mobile GMaps link. It says it allows viewing various maps on the phone, and seems to have some sort of "caching" feature that will let you save map sections for later use. It also lists K810 on the supported phones list (I'm not sure if K810i counts).
posted by burnmp3s at 9:49 AM on May 28, 2008

Google makes a Java version of their Maps app for J2ME enabled mobile phones: Google Maps Mobile. But it will still pull down the maps over the network and does not cache any images locally.
posted by GuyZero at 10:09 AM on May 28, 2008