Offline Maps 3

[Available Soon] more info: http://code.google.com/p/iphoneofflinemap/wiki/30HowTo

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Offline Maps 2.x.x

Official Site: http://code.google.com/p/iphoneofflinemap/

View maps offline on your iPhone

This 1st part of the tutorial is on how to view maps offline on your iPhone. That means without the use of Wi-Fi, 3G or EDGE. A subsequent tutorial on how to create your own cached maps is located after this post.

Some notes before getting started:

* You will need to jailbreak your phone in order to apply these methods as it involves a jb function.

* The map files provided in this tutorial will only work for FW2.2 but the method of application is the same for previous firmware.
* Offline routes is supported for FW2.2.

*The Klang Valley map will be used to illustrate this tutorial but you can also download other cached maps I have created at the bottom of this post.

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OfflineMaps for FW2.2 & 2.2.1 Guide

Step 1:
Download+Install the "OfflineMaps" app which is now updated for FW2.2 & 2.2.1 from Cydia.

Step 2:
Download the cached map files for Klang Valley. Unzip that and you should get the folder (KV---KlangValley) with two files (com.apple.Maps & MapTiles.sqlitedb) inside. Now take note that you shouldn't try to rename any of the files or folders as this may cause errors later when loading the caches on your iPhone if you happen to pick a wrong name.

Step 3:
You will now have to copy the whole folder (KV---KlangValley) into your iPhone at /private/var/mobile/Media/Maps (Create the Maps folder if it's not available) directory via SSH or iPhone File Manager. Make sure it is the whole folder (KV---KlangValley) and not just the two files.

Step 4:
Once that's done, disconnect and load the OfflineMaps app on your iPhone. You should now be able to see "KV---KlangValley" under the maps list. You can also see WEM--West Malaysia here in my screen shot which is a separate cache maps loaded. That's just to show you can add more than one cached map at a single time to your iPhone.



Step 5:
Ok, go ahead and tap on "KV---KlangValley" and tap on Link:



Tap OK. This will bring you back to the list of maps.



Step 6:
After that, simply tap on iPhone Maps Application to access your newly loaded cached map.



That's that! Enjoy!
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Cached Maps for Download: (Only for FW2.2)

01. Klang Valley - ( Mirror 1 )( Mirror 2 )( Mirror 3 )( Mirror 4 )
02. West Malaysia - ( Mirror 1 )( Mirror 2 )
03. East Malaysia - ( Mirror 1 )( Mirror 2 )
04. Johor (Coming Soon)
05. Kedah (Coming Soon)
06. Kelantan (Coming Soon)
07. Melaka (Coming Soon)
08. Negeri Sembilan - (Mirror 1)(Mirror 2)
09. Pahang (Coming Soon)
10. Perak (Coming Soon)
11. Perlis (Coming Soon)
12. Penang - ( Mirror 1 )( Mirror 2 )
13. Selangor ( Mirror 1 )
14. Terengganu (Coming Soon)
15. Sabah (Coming Soon)
16. Sarawak (Coming Soon)
17. Labuan (Coming Soon)
18. Putrajaya, Cyberjaya - (Mirror 1)
19. Singapore ( Mirror 1 )
20. Ipoh - (Mirror 1)
21. Kuching- (Mirror 1)
22. Australia Melbourne - (Mirror 1)


*WestMalaysia & EastMalaysia maps have limited zoom levels but are detailed enough to see all main roads/highways. It'll be useful for an overview map when on road trips or when you just simply need the bigger picture. All other maps have zoom levels all the way down to 2x. I have chosen to omit the max zoom at 1x for size reasons but also because I have found the information displayed on both 2x and 1x zoom layers to be almost indistinguishable.

*When you start seeing empty boxes while scrolling or zooming (in/out) without Wi-fi/3G/EDGE connection, it means that those areas were not included in the map cache.

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For those who are still facing problems loading maps, please refer to forumer malboro13 post for solutions: http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/857684/+200


Updated and reedited with new screenshot (davidgary73)


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This post has been edited by davidgary73: Jul 12 2009, 11:36 AM

Create your own cached maps


This is the 2nd part of the tutorial which will touch on how to create your own cached maps for offline use on your iPhone.

Some notes before getting started:

*Offline maps are currently only workable on jailbroken phones.

*Offline routes is supported for FW2.2.

*This tutorial will concentrate on making cached maps for use with FW2.2 but those with FW2.1 and below may also follow the instructions here as the steps are pretty much the same except for the conversion part at the end.

* We will be utilising GMDL (Global Map Downloader Tool 0.5.08b by in7ane.com) so this will be a solution for Windows users only.

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Using GMDL to Create a Custom Offline Map Cache for Your iPhone


Step 1:
Download the "GMDL" program by in7ane.com from this link.

In order to be able to run this program, you will also need to make sure you have Microsoft .NET Framework (Version 2.0) installed for your pc. If you don't have it, you can go download it here.


Step 2:
Be prepared to keep your firewalls at bay because the program will need to access Google Maps. Proceed to open the GDML program (GMDL>bin>Debug>Global Map Download Tool). Now before we go any further, keep in mind that GMDL is not exactly the most user friendly program ever made. It is still a work in progress so expect a beta like experience. Other than some annoying usability and display issues, it has been in my experience a stable application. Most importantly, it works.



Ok, we are looking at the main GMDL interface here. As you can see, I have labeled the key areas we will be focusing on. For our purpose, you can pretty much forget about the other complicating looking array of settings. Mess around with it in your own time if you want to. Refer to the following steps with the help of the labels.

A : Type in the place you want and click on 'Search Maps'. For this tutorial, I will be using Singapore as an example.

B : The map of the area you want will show up here. Now this is the tricky part of the program and perhaps the most annoying. You have to adjust, zoom in/out and position the image to your liking because presumably, that will be the image area that your final map will look like. Only presumably so don't try to get it perfect the first time around. You can click on "Preview 1x" (on top of the Google Maps logo) to see what the final output area will be. There is a another preview screen which I'll get to in a bit. You will not be able to position exactly as you want as there are set grids that GMDL will download which you can again see by clicking on the Preview 1x button.

C : Now once you're done positioning, you will need to enter an output name in this field. Your output name must start with an underscore. I've decided to name my output map simply as Singapore so I would have to type in "_Singapore".

D : Next, click on the "Download This Map" button and the next image will come up:



This is the preview screen. Let's look at what is on the above screen shot.

E : You get to choose which tiles you want in the final output. Check to include and un-check to discard. As you can see here this particular tile is just water so I might not want this in order to cut down on the final output size. This somehow does not work though as the final map output will still include all the area in the preview. Well, nothing you can do about it but I still recommend you un-check the tiles that you don't want.

F : These are the zoom levels you can select. 1x being the maximum zoom in and in this case 32x being the maximum zoom out. Fortunately, this feature actually does work. You can select multiple zoom levels to be included in a single map. File size of each zoom levels (as well as total size of all zoom levels selected) are shown so you can judge what is reasonable to include. As a note, in most cases, 2x provides more than enough close up detail as the information it provides is almost identical to a 1x zoom view.

G : If you are happy with what you have on this preview screen, go ahead and click this long button and downloading of the map will commence as in step I below.

H : If you want to re-position the map to a more suitable area, you can do so by clicking on cancel. A pop-up saying "Zoom level probably unavailable...." will appear. Just click 'OK' and proceed to click on the 'Browse' tab at the top-left to return to the previous screen.



I : It will be as if nothing is happening but don't fret because the progress bar is silently running on the top right hand corner of the screen.

J : This message will pop-up once the download is finished. If a different window appears saying that you have incomplete tiles instead, simply try again to download the missing tiles as instructed on screen. It may not work instantly though as Google will sometimes misinterpret your mass download of map tiles and temporarily block your connection. You can also choose to not download those missing tiles if you want to.

K : The next step after the download is to get GMDL to process the downloaded image files into something your iPhone can understand. Click on the 'iPhone' button to do this.



L : This will be the name of your map again. Leave this as it is.

M : This is the output directory. I suggest just leaving this as it is. If you are making more than one map after the other though, you will have to specify a different target folder or else an error message will come up saying that the directory already exists.

N : This is the final step on GMDL. Click this button and once the process has been completed, you can close the GDML program.

You will now have two finished files which are "com.apple.Maps" and "MapTiles.sqlitedb". If you remember from the first part of the tutorial on top, these are the two files you have to SSH to your iPhone (or 1 file for non-jb users using DiskAid). Users with FW2.1 and below should be able to use these files without any problem.

If however you are on the FW2.2, you're not quite finished yet because you still have one more step that is to convert "MapTiles.sqlitedb" into a FW2.2 compatible format. FW2.2 uses a 128x128 map tile which is different from the 64x64 map tile you now have. (GMDL has not yet been updated for this change).

You need to download the MapConverter (Mapv4v5Converter.zip) from our Russian brothers here or here.. Unzip the file and install by executing the "Mapv4v5ConverterSetup.msi" file.

After installation has complete, run the program:



Locate the "MapTiles.sqlitedb" file you wish to convert and click on "Convert to v5 Format". Specify an output location. Finally make sure you discard of the old MapTiles.sqlitedb file and replace it with this one. Make sure you rename this new file accurately as "MapTiles.sqlitedb" and put it into a single folder together with the existing "com.apple.Maps".

This is where the tutorial ends and connects with the first post on "how to view maps offline on your iPhone".

As a parting note, do mess around with GMDL when you have time. You will find that you can do stuff like place Points of Interests, manually name streets, etc so all these information will be available to you when you view your map offline without a data connection present.

Cheers!

This post has been edited by davidgary73: Apr 14 2009, 12:01 AM

this is a good tutorial bro

keep em coming.
will try once get back

Good job mate.

Suits noobs like me that has no sense of direction.

this post is nice and maverick who are u ah previously?

Thnx again guys. I was wilsoncvt previously hehe...

great tips! will try this leter when i got some free time

another reason, why you should jailbreak...... Good work....

this post really making me to consider to break the virginity of my iphone by jailbreaking....hmmmm

kewL
gonna try soon

TQ

OMG, Nice Bro, you were really helping....

thumbs up for your..

i think you should use another host as well..mediafire is very bad for tmnut line..

@Shock. I've personally found MediaFire to be the quickest actually. You can recommend a different file hosting location to me and I can provide an alternative download link.

rapidshare / megaupload. both are quite ok for tmnut..

mediafire....my ip ping the, time out -.-

Ok, I'll post up alternative download links in a bit. Will be using rapidshare.

How do I delete the downloaded maps that I previously used on stock app MAPS if I am already using this one.

@blizzzy ...Let me just clear a few things first before I can help u:

1. You've loaded custom maps before on to your iPhone....yes/no?
2. You're jbroken and familiar with SSH?

This post has been edited by Maverick Wil: Nov 27 2008, 04:29 PM

1) No. Previously I just use MAPS the official App in Iphone
2) Yes its JB 2.1 and I use WinSCP on WinXP/openSSH on Iphone to transfer stuff between my comp and phone.

I just want to remove the cache of the downloaded maps cause I won't need it anymore if I want to install this thingy. Thanks =)

@blizzzy...oh ar..ok ..

Well you don't really need to remove the cache because the cache is not exactly permanent. It's temporary. It's would be a nonsensical thing to do and an absolute waste of your time. But if you insist... once you load new custom maps, the old cache is automatically wiped. There is also an option to clear cache on the OfflineMaps app (More>Remove All Caches)

This post has been edited by Maverick Wil: Nov 27 2008, 04:34 PM

oh, the offlinemaps have a function to remove all cache.