[LillOrvar]

Could anybody confirm that Lumia 820 and 920 have real offline maps? Meaning that even if no SIM card is inserted in the phone or if I am out in the forest somewhere with no network coverage, or if roaming is turned of, that the maps really are functioning as they do in the Nokia C5-00.

[JackMerson]

Yes, they have.
Unfortunately, the recent Lumia with Windows Phone 7.5 don't get the offilne maps.

[rasras]

Yes, they do indeed

[sealionact]

---

JackMerson wrote:
Yes, they have.
Unfortunately, the recent Lumia with Windows Phone 7.5 don't get the offilne maps.

---

I have a Lumia 800 running 7.5, and have had full offline maps and navigation for months now.

[LillOrvar]

Hi, thanks for your replies

How could I see that the offline Maps are working in "real" offline mode in the specification?

The specification for the Nokia C5, which I currently use, says:

Navigation features and services

OVI Maps  

Positioning features

• GPS
• A-GPS

If I want to use the C5 in "real" offline mode and the roaming turned on, I have to disable the A-GPS function, which uses the network.

In the Lumia 920 I can't see that the feature GPS is available, it says only A-GPS.

Could it be that only the maps are working in offlinemode but that you still need a network for the positioning to work?

I purchased a Lumia 900 and returned it after discovering that it didn't have the GPS function, this time I want the be sure before purchasing a Lumia 920.

[KennyKB]

A-GPS has nothing to do with offline or online maps. It is just a facility to make use of external servers to get a faster GPS fix where signals are weak like indoors.

If there is A-GPS then GPS is also available as it just Assist the GPS.

[JackMerson]

@sealionact
I once tried the offline maps on Singapore and it didn't work on Nokia Maps. It needs the internet connection to work. So, to see the maps abroad, I used Nokia Drive instead of using Nokia Maps. Or is it just me?

[LillOrvar]

Ok, but why are the specifications differnt?

Some phone have both GPS and A-GPS, like Nokia C5 and some phones only A-GPS, like Lumia 920.

[sealionact]

---

JackMerson wrote:
@sealionact
I once tried the offline maps on Singapore and it didn't work on Nokia Maps. It needs the internet connection to work. So, to see the maps abroad, I used Nokia Drive instead of using Nokia Maps. Or is it just me?

---

Ah, oopsy - my bad. I assumed people were talking about the maps in Drive, not Nokia Maps .... no, Maps has no offline mode in WP7.

[carman58]

maps at present does require data, but as the Drive app has always worked offline with pre loaded maps, you can always search in drive to find anywhere you want and zoom out for an overview. I do believe however, that both WP7.8 and WP8 will have full offline use, including being able to search for places of interest etc. So at present if you are lost anywhere in the world that you have loaded maps for, you can use navigation to find your way with no data connection of any kind

[sealionact]

Hate to be sceptical, but I'm not sure about offline maps being made available in 7.8. Nokia have quoted "technical reasons" for the inability to use offline maps on WP7.5, and I can't see that changing under 7.8.
Unless you know otherwise of course.

[KennyKB]

I wonder what "technical reasons." Both Nokia Maps and Nokia Drive are offline for the N9.

[KennyKB]

Probably a typo. There is no way the 920 has only A-GPS and no GPS receiver.

---

LillOrvar wrote:

Ok, but why are the specifications differnt?

Some phone have both GPS and A-GPS, like Nokia C5 and some phones only A-GPS, like Lumia 920.

---

[cintwo]

I'm very interested in the Lumia 820 too, and I was asking myself the same question, if the positioning can be set to GPS only, you said the A-GPS has got nothing to do with the GPS... but isn't the assisted A-GPS connecting to the network provider ending up with charges? So pratically if you are abroad the bill can be quite high?

[farby]

---

cintwo wrote:

I'm very interested in the Lumia 820 too, and I was asking myself the same question, if the positioning can be set to GPS only, you said the A-GPS has got nothing to do with the GPS... but isn't the assisted A-GPS connecting to the network provider ending up with charges? So pratically if you are abroad the bill can be quite high?

---

Yes, A-GPS will use some amount of data and though may be of just about 20-30 KBs may prove expensive during International roaming. 

[cintwo]

It's not many KB but my worry is your network provider is charging for the full day data usage like 1 or 2 pounds when you start maps, I will try it to see what

[liolisac]

Oh come one people!!!!

Nokia Drive works OFFLINE everywhere in the world with of without sim card inserted. All you have to do is install maps for country you want over wi-fi (for example at home).

There is option in application "online" or "offline" and there is now way it will do any data transfer if it is set to "offline". I used it with 3 different sim-card (Italian, Spanish, Slovenian) in different countries (Spain, Croatia, Germany, Austria, Belgium, England)....and I never got any roaming charges for it...so it doesn`t not use A-GPS but JUST GPS in device...every Lumia!!!

Bye

[cintwo]

I don't see the reason why you're getting so nervous  to ask questions about the A-GPS is fair because NOTHING is written both in the user guide or in the specs for Lumia 710 and less in the coming out soon 820. A-GPS can lead to hidden and unespected costs if you are abroad or on a pay as you go, so the question is very appropriate. The option 'offline mode' in Nokia Drive means nothing, it's not very clear, it could be referred to wi-fi assisted. And this is for Nokia Drive, nothing is said about Nokia maps, are they working offline meaning without any assisted option enabled!? if you are disabling it in Nokia Drive will be Nokia Maps following the same behaviour? Who knows! Nobody is answering so the only thing is try it and see, I also posted a message to Vodafone to see how much is the data charge for A-GPS if it's a flat rate or per KB

[ArminG]

You are mixing a few things here.

1) The phone. When you disable data or set the settings to not use data when roaming, the existings Lumia's will not use data for anything, incuding a-GPS.

2) Location. Windows Phone 7.5 has an location framework that gets its location from lots of sources. If one of these sources is not available it will try and still get an location as accurate as possible using the other sources. If you are somewhere in the woods far away, this means regular GPS is the only thing it can and therefore will use. Also if you have disabled data - see previous point - it will not use cellular data even if available.

3) The Nokia app. There is more to 'offline' mode than just using data for GPS. Nokai apps also can lookup online traffic info, get directons, etc. When you put it in offline mode, it will optimise for exactely that: offline mode.

So what do *you* need to do:

a) download the maps from the area you need before your trip

b) put data to disable or prevent roaming

c) put the Nokia app in offline mode

Step (c) is technically not even needed, but will make the Nokai app not try and connect, so gives a smoother behaviour. And as stated, you'll then have perfectly offline navigation without any cost. Getting a fix may take a bit longer than usually because there is no assistence, but that is it.

[farby]

Think, there is confusion between using the Maps ONLINE / OFFLINE and the GPS / A-GPS positioning method. In general, use of A-GPS is only during the initial positional FIX. It will use a few KBs of data to get assistanse from the Network to determine the location faster. Using the Maps Online is needed when the Maps data of the region is not previously installed or the data was installed long ago and the user wants the latest data available. This will consume a large amount of data as the maps will get downloaded as one keeps moving.. 

... so to TOTALLY avoid any data cost one needs to set both.. the Maps to OFFLINE and only the GPS positioning method enabled ...