That’s because you can download offline maps in the Google Maps app to use when you have no signal. Thankfully there’s a way to easily bypass this issue provided you’re slightly organized and remember to do it before heading somewhere with no data coverage. You can still view your location on Google Maps even when you have no signal, but if you’ve gone out for a hike in the middle of nowhere and need to find your way back to your hotel which is an hour’s drive away, doing so without getting directions can be tricky (or it is for me anyway). That can be problematic when you’re directionally challenged like me. If you don’t have data coverage due to being in the middle of nowhere (or due to being on a phone carrier with poor coverage), you can’t get directions on your phone.
There are occasions where Google Maps has the potential to not be as useful as it could be though. The result if I’m left to my own (directional) devices The Google Maps app came out a couple of years after I passed my driving test and I’ve relied on that for directions ever since.
That meant I didn’t learn to drive until I was 26, at which point GPS was ubiquitous.
