Google Maps is an interesting service for quite a few purposes. It can be used to get directions or take a closer look at a specific location on the planet. Many mashups extends its functionality making it without doubt one of the most popular map applications on the Internet. Google Maps does require an Internet connection which can be problematic in some situations like downloading directions from point a to point b to a computer to access it on the road where Internet access is either not available or to costly.

Offline Maps is a software program for Microsoft Windows that offers the following functionality to users and developers:

The application provides following functionality to its users:

• The ability to download tiles to a folder on your computer of a given zoomfactor along a path


• The ability to view the downloaded tiles in the application


• The ability to draw a path on the map and save that path to a file


• The ability to receive data from a GPS device and position the map at the points received from the device

To developers it provides following functionality

• The ability to develop new layers with specific functionality


• The ability to draw on the map using longitude and latitude coordinates


• The ability to draw on the map using regular coordinates

The developer provides access to a version for the Microsoft Windows operating system and a mobile version for Windows Mobile devices. Supported are Google Maps and Open Street Maps. It is furthermore possible to load maps that have already been downloaded from either service. Several additional options are provided in the layers tab including ripping, routing and GPS options.

The software program requires the Microsoft .net Framework. Interested users can download it from the Codeplex website