Before you buy
How much data Google Maps uses on a trip
Far less than almost everyone thinks. How much it uses navigating, how much searching, and why downloading the map changes everything.
Dani Requena 7 min Photo by Bjorn Snelders on Unsplash Google Maps has a reputation as a data hog and doesn't deserve it. It's one of the lightest apps you'll use on a trip, for a simple reason: it sends directions and pieces of map, not video.
What is true is that you use it constantly, and that's where the misunderstanding comes from: it doesn't use much per hour, it uses a lot of hours.
The figures, in honest ranges
These numbers are approximate and vary with the area, the zoom level and whether you're walking or driving. As an order of magnitude, they hold.
| What you're doing | Rough usage |
|---|---|
| Driving navigation, per hour | 3 to 7 MB |
| Walking navigation, per hour | 2 to 5 MB |
| Searching a place and reading its listing | under 1 MB |
| Panning around the map, per hour | 10 to 20 MB |
| Satellite view, per hour | 40 to 80 MB |
Translated into an ordinary day of travel, with two or three hours of map between walks and journeys, Google Maps comes to between 10 and 30 MB. Over a week, under a quarter of a gigabyte.
What does push the number up
- Satellite view, which is photography and weighs ten times more than the normal map.
- Street View, which is panoramic video: a few minutes already shows up.
- Aimless exploring, panning and zooming, which downloads new tiles the whole time.
- Recalculating the route over and over, which is what happens when you miss exits on an unfamiliar motorway.
Downloading the map: the biggest saving on a trip
Google Maps lets you download a whole area for offline use. With the map downloaded, driving navigation works with no data at all, route and voice included, and you only lose live traffic and some searches.
- Open the app on wifi, at home or at your hotel.
- Tap your profile picture and go into Offline maps.
- Choose the area and adjust it to the box you need.
- Download it. A large city takes between 100 and 400 MB of storage, which is not mobile data: those are megabytes on the phone.
That last point confuses a lot of people: downloading the map uses storage, not your data plan, as long as you do it on wifi.
So why is my plan disappearing if Maps uses so little?
Because it isn't Maps. On a trip, what eats gigabytes is video: stories, reels, clips that autoplay as you scroll a social feed, and photo backups, which kick in the moment there's a connection.
The figures for the apps that do use data are in how much data you actually use on a trip.
Three settings before you leave
- Download the map for each city and for the route between them.
- Set photo backup to wifi only. It's the one that slips through most often.
- Download the language in your translator too if you're going somewhere with another alphabet: camera translation gets used far more than anyone plans for.
Frequently asked questions
How much data does Google Maps use per hour?
Between 3 and 7 MB for driving navigation and between 2 and 5 on foot. Panning around the map uses more, 10 to 20 MB an hour, and satellite view considerably more.
Does Google Maps work without data?
Yes, if you download the area on wifi first. Navigation and voice directions work offline; you lose live traffic and some searches.
Does downloading a map use my data?
Only if you download it on mobile data. Done on wifi, it takes up storage on your phone and doesn't touch your plan.
Does GPS use data?
No. The GPS signal comes from satellites and works even in aeroplane mode. What uses data is downloading the map you see around you.
How much data do I need for Maps over a week away?
Under a quarter of a gigabyte using it two or three hours a day. What fills a data plan is video, not maps.
