And shortly after Gamin stock dropped by almost 20% and TomTom dropped by almost 40% Pwnd by Google.

yet another reason i will most likely get this phone on november 6th

so what happens with the maps if the reception is low or no signal?.. funny, funny aerial view!!! the app is good the phone overall sucks

that would be great if they would add it to the G1

It caches your route when it calculates it so even if you lose cell signal or take a call you are still good to go. And if you think this phone isn't good you clearly haven't read or seen anything about it. The only thing it isn't good at is looking really good, but otherwise it's shaping up to be an awesome phone. Definitely the best that Verizon will carry as of Nov 6th.

k i just bought an htc dream like a week ago. will i be able to install android 2.0 on my phone? as far as i know im runnin firmware 1.6

How about if you are on "google earth" view which constantly downloads while you use it?!!

Hoping this eventually makes it to the iPhone or Blackberry. I carry an iPhone for "play" and always have my berry on me for work.

I have turn by turn on my G1 already, nothing new here just more marketing

I hope it never makes it to the Iphone. I am so sick of Apple and AT&T exclusives that i hope all the other phone companys that get the new bells and whistles play the same game. I hope it's a drid exclusive baby, Go Droid!

2 years ago someone bought me a GPS as a gift, and... sadly, it never got used for some of the same reasons mentioned in the Google video. What good is a GPS that requires I already know the address of where I'm going? If I need to go to my computer to get the address, I might as well print directions while I'm at it.
-My particular device charged pretty ridiculous amounts for map updates. So, not only was it not internet connected, but they wanted to charge me for updates to my maps!

This seems like a much easier GPS solution. I'm really looking forward to getting a car dock for my DROID now.

For those on other Android devices, this seems like it wasn't DROID exclusive, but rather, it was a Android 2.0 feature. Which should mean that there's a good chance that it'll come to other phones like the G1, Hero, ect, as soon as they get the Android 2.0 firmware updates.

I will keep my Mio GPS, and probably buy a newer one in the near future (my Mio is already 3 years old, and even the maps I updated are now 2 years old). My Mio also has over a million POIs (points of interest). It easily found various sports stadiums, night clubs, businesses, etc.. in various cities around the country. Not all GPS manufacturers are so helpful, and obviously it won't find new/moved businesses, but having a GPS that doesn't depend on a data connection is the only reasonable and safe way to travel.

This new Google map will be great for driving around a large city with good connectivety, but as for long trips or those out in the middle of no-where, the requirement to have a constant connection for visual maps will be an issue. Your phone can't cache everything it needs. It might cache the route, but that's basically like a Google maps you printed off at home. Plus, what if you are in a new town, and need directions to a specific store, won't do any good if you don't have a data connection, you can't cache a route you didn't already look up.

If you have a regular cell phone and GPS, but still want Googles listings, try this: use Google SMS search (send a clear text message to GOOGL, like "McDonald's in Plainsville, KY"). I can find up to date listings for businesses. Then, using my unconnected GPS, I just enter the address Google gives me, and viola, directions. No Android or Data connection needed.

That said, I'm sure once T-Mobile releases Android 2.0 for my G1, I'll at least give the new google maps a try.

Good tip on the Google SMS search, Hellwig.

Iv been using google maps since I could install it on my phone, regardless if it was made for it or not, so that includes the compatible version aswell.

With google maps, no maps are saved on your fone, which tbh I think is pretty stupid. It would be better if you could download the latest maps, save to a memory card or the handsets built in memory and the maps are constantly updated as your connected and using google maps, this way it would mean factors such as low network coverage and GPRS data limits, would not have such a big impact on your everyday usage. It also means that you have longer battery life, as the handset is not using its gprs data connection as much as it would with having to download the maps on every application launch.

Other than that, I love it, google maps, is the biggest and most up to date maps around, live streaming of traffic lights? wth, thats so awesome, tho you have to consider this would be the perfect tool for a criminal getaway car?!?!

How much data is downloaded for the maps? Verizon's "Unlimited" data is actually 5Gb and if that is the case, I'd like to know if how much space is downloaded for these maps