Google Updates Maps (Land And Sky)
| by Rob Jackson on March 19th, 2010 |
Google has been busy in the apps department lately, launching both Orkut and Buzz applications to Android Market. But it isn’t only new apps that Google has been working on – they’ve just updated their Maps applications… both of them.
Google Maps version 4.1 is now available on Android 1.6+ devices, adding a few neat features. In addition to a Latitude widget and reworked search results, Google now allows you to use a Google Map as one of your Live Wallpapers. You can even have it track your current location using GPS/aGPS and show live traffic data, right there on your homescreen. Of course that sounds like a battery killer but hey – whatever you want!
Another huge addition is support for multiple accounts, so if you’ve got a personal and a work email account for instance, you can get the information you’re looking for on either depending on your situation.
And about that “other” map they updated? We’re talking about Google SkyMap – an application that I absolutely love as a fun, cool, geeky app to use at random moments. Not a huge update – mainly adding support for different phones – but just wanted to remind you to download it and try it if you haven’t already!
Oh yeah… FYI… Google also updated Gesture Search so its now available on older versions of Android. Man… they’re working hard over there!
[Via Google]
1. jeff wrote on March 19, 2010
the maps update doesnt work on my droid… 4 times out of 5 it will force close a few seconds i open it :( other droid users are having the same problem
2. TF wrote on March 19, 2010
hey jeff, it worked for me first shot, but I saw a thread about the issue on HoFo… maybe HoFo or Droid-Life may have more discussions on the particular issue and perhaps a remedy.
3. Matt wrote on March 19, 2010
By “older” you apparently didn’t mean 1.5. :(
4. Jonathan wrote on March 19, 2010
The new Maps live wallpaper appears to use cell towers rather than GPS to find location, so it might not be as much of a battery drainer as it would appear.
5. indolent wrote on March 19, 2010
As far as I can tell, it doesn’t use GPS. It just uses cell towers and wifi. Battery drain doesn’t seem any worse than the other live wallpapers.
6. jeff wrote on March 19, 2010
I uninstalled it and reinstalled it.. it works fine now sorry! I really do enjoy the new search results it’s nice!
Now i’m just waiting for that 2.1 update…
7. jeff wrote on March 19, 2010
P.S. thanks for the help/concern TF
8. Lukehluke wrote on March 20, 2010
Google is on a roll at the moment :D
9. greg wrote on March 20, 2010
I can’t find maps on my market. Maybe its just for the US? I have Milestone running 2.0.1
10. greg wrote on March 20, 2010
My bad. I realized that maps market aren’t supposed to be on the market.
11. nom wrote on March 20, 2010
they are adding so much feature it’s getting bulkier, they should start releasing these features as plugins that way we can chose what NOT to install.
12. webby wrote on March 20, 2010
As I always do, I read user reviews before accepting an update, and the user reviews on this update are awful, so I’m gonna pass for now. I’m not gonna be a beta tester for Goog.
13. Josh wrote on March 20, 2010
The new map works great on the Nexus; I was hesitant at first. when reading the ratings in the market. It appears Droid user are the only ones experiencing the problem currently.
14. Dar Devy wrote on March 20, 2010
Hello all,
How do I get or enable the live map wallpaper on my G1 with the latest cyanogenmod? Thanks,
15. mike a wrote on March 20, 2010
Seeing as the Droid doesn’t do livewallpapers just yet, I’m assuming the live wallpaper map feature is only for rooted droids and n1’s?
16. barry99705 wrote on March 20, 2010
@Jonathan
No, it killed my Droid’s power in about three hours.
17. nick wrote on March 20, 2010
i’ve been having a problem with ggogle maps being accurate on my locatio for at least the last week..don’t know if they have focused too far out of the box or if my droid has lost itself…
18. barry99705 wrote on March 21, 2010
@mike
Correct. I’m running BB.8. It’s pretty cool, but I wouldn’t let it run for too long.
19. Jon wrote on March 21, 2010
I noticed those updates on my Moto. Droid…
20. Bruce McL wrote on March 21, 2010
I’m not impressed with this update. Maps will not stay shut off on my stock Android 1.6 phone. It keeps starting itself up, which drains the battery. I have location, buzz, and all other features switched off. Why Google, why?
21. bill wrote on March 22, 2010
dont buy a vodafone magic they dont update them and this wont work
22. Matt wrote on March 22, 2010
@jeff:
my fiancee uses the droid, no issues there. non rooted.
meanwhile, no problem on my g1 with cyanogen.