What is Maps.me and why should you use it?

Almost everyone today knows how effective Google Maps is in finding locations all over the world and maybe even saving them for future reference. There have been countless articles, even written here on Fstoppers, that show its usefulness. However, there are many fundamental shortcomings when using Google Maps when you remove the only thing it needs to be functional: an internet connection.

Photographers need to mark and save locations for a variety of use cases. And if an internet connection is not available, Google Maps is essentially useless. There is a way to download part of the map for offline use, but this feature is not intended for large parts of the map, like a whole country. So, if you are a power user and have created multiple lists of hundreds of registered places in many countries, the offline maps functionality becomes woefully inadequate. So what is the solution ?

I’ve been using a small smartphone app called Maps.me since my first trip to Iceland in 2013. I knew I wasn’t going to have cellular data service the entire time I was in the country, so using Google Maps wasn’t not an option. I needed something where I could use the WiFi to do my initial download and then be able to mark places and keep track of them for later use, while walking, driving, or just waiting. I just happened to come across Maps.me in the App Store and downloaded it. The more I used and became familiar with it, the more I was impressed with its functions and ease of use. Every time I opened it I discovered a new feature and found it hard to believe it was a free product, a feeling I still share today. Downloadable pieces of maps, turn-by-turn navigation, tagging favorite locations, finding public restrooms, and tracking trails are just a few of the tools I used back then and continue to use. ‘use when traveling today.

But what I wanted to share with you is the ability to combine the power of Maps.me in the field with Google Maps at home. As a landscape photographer, I do a lot of research on my desktop. Part of that research is finding new (for me) and exciting places to potentially go and shoot. I use a Google product called My Maps for this. If you’re not familiar, it’s Google Maps, but you can customize your map with layers, labels and colorful icons, directions, images, and even text with hyperlinks.

So if I had to plan a photographic spotting trip somewhere, I would start by researching all the places that looked interesting and create a custom spotting map. To create a new map, I must connect to my Google account, navigate to Google Maps, and via the menu in the upper left corner, select “Your places”, then the “MAPS” tab, and finally click on “CREATE A MAP” at the bottom. Once a new tab opens, the Google My Maps interface appears and I can start adding my points of interest anywhere on the map, as well as customizing them to my liking. All I have to do is click on the “add marker” pin in the top toolbar and start placing those markers where I want. I can also click on any marker that already exists on Google Maps and choose to add it to my map. After that, the possibilities are endless. You can have up to 10 layers, with 2000 stitches on each. It is a very powerful tool which is also very customizable.

This is the Google Maps home part. On your phone, the maps that you have created in My Maps can be viewed by tapping on the “Saved” icon at the bottom of the Google Maps app and after swiping to the bottom of this page, clicking on “Maps” . You can then choose the map to overlay on the mobile interface, but you can only view it, not edit it (if you are using Android, you can download Google My Maps separately and customize them as you would on the interface of office).

The only downside is that once you run out of internet or cellular data, Google Maps loses its functionality. This is where Maps.me comes in. But before we get there, we need to do one last thing in the Google My Maps interface on the desktop. With one of your My Maps open, we need to click on the first set of three vertical dots, select “Export to KML / KMZ” and click “Download”. This .KMZ file contains all of the information for this map that you customized in a small, stand-alone data file. The next goal is to get this file to your mobile device.

There are several ways to do this: Messages, Airdrop, Dropbox / Google Drive, but the easiest way is to email yourself with the .KMZ file attached. Once you open the email on your smartphone, you can then tap on the .KMZ attachment in the email and then tap the share icon in the top right corner. The Maps.me icon should be an option in the results section, if it’s not visible just swipe right and tap “More”, and it should be there. Once you tap on the Maps.me icon, it will automatically open (assuming it’s installed on your phone) and create a separate list with all the information included in the .KMZ file.

That’s it! You can now view all your points of interest in the Maps.me interface. If you’ve added any titles, descriptions, photos or driving routes, those will show up too! And now you are free from the obligations of needing an Internet connection.

The best part is that it all works backwards. If you have started using Maps.me and created lists with POIs, you can export those lists to .KMZ files and upload them to Google My Maps.

In the Maps.me interface, tap the star icon in the bottom toolbar and then tap the three horizontal dots corresponding to the list you want to export. Press “Export File” and choose your preferred delivery method. Once the file is on your computer, open one of your Google My Maps and click “Add Layer”, then “Import” under the layer name. Find your .KMZ file and let it download, then you’re done.

Like I said at the start, Maps.me is a free mobile app with a ton of features. It doesn’t require an account to do any of the things mentioned above, and it doesn’t show ads either. If you’re planning to travel internationally, have a capped cellular data plan, or have a reason Google Maps won’t work for you, I urge you to try Maps.me.

Is there any other map app that you think is better? Let me know in the comments below.