Offline mode for Android app using the Google Maps API

Question

Is there a way to use the offline mode in Android apps using the Google Maps API?

Any direction to a tutorial or source code would be a massive help. I've been searching for hours without any luck. I know Google has released a way of using maps offline, but is it available for Android developers?

Detradetract

It is not available for third party app developers. There are certain ways you can force cacheing but they are in violation of google's terms of service. – Kirsti

What about preloading maps before entering low internet areas? – Detradetract

I have the custom tiles, need to show them but getTile() does not get called on the first launch. I need to show custom tiles on first launch in airplane mode. can somebody help? @Detradetract – Rebba

Answer 1

See this solution or this one. Basically you just create your own tileprovider and access tiles locally. It is totally doable with the v2 API. API Reference

There's some false information floating around out there that the v2 Google Maps API requires an Internet connection. There was a but where the API would require a single access after app install to verify with Google Play services, but I believe this has been fixed.

See this and this.

Capitulation

@Simon 2nd link is shifted here – Acicula

I have the custom tiles, need to show them but getTile() does not get called on the first launch. I need to show custom tiles on first launch in airplane mode. can somebody help? @AjithPandian – Rebba

You need to connect to the maps API at least once to make cache of tiles. GoogleMaps API does not alow storing tiles outside service. You can see this here [developers.google.com/maps/terms#10-license-restrictions] refer 10.5.d. – Acicula