How to download Google Maps data to your mobile device

Google Maps makes it easy to get from place to place, even when those places change on the fly. If you're on the road, though, your connectivity may be spotty at best, so it's a good idea to take along a backup. Up until now, our best option was hard to fold and harder to manipulate while moving at high velocity, but now it's easy to download all the map data you need onto your mobile device. Here's how to do it: 

1. First you need to enable the function. Go to Maps on your device, then tap the Menu key, then More, then Labs.

   

2. From here, select Download map area (and anything else that looks appealing). 

3. Once you've activated it, the rest is simple. Pick a Google Places spot, tap it on the map, then select Download map area. It takes a little while, at least on a 3G connection, but the wait is worth it if you want that data. 

You can clear your cache to delete old map data, and it's only stored for 30 days, so those on long journeys may want to take a hard-copy backup. Still, for most people, this is a pretty sweet feature.