Androids Receive Google Maps 5.8 Update

Google has updated its Maps app to version 5.8 for Androids. The update includes additional abilities for the Places and Latitude functions.

The latest addition, My Places, provides quick access to starred places, as well as those you've recently viewed. Additionally, you get an option to add new Places on the go, if they're not listed in Google Maps.

The new photo uploader lets users contribute photos to help others get a sense of the place. These submission may even become a profile picture for that place's page. Uploaders can manage these images by using the Photos for Google Maps album on Picasa.

The new additions might be good, but I'm still waiting to see a much more important feature - offline navigation.

The update can be downloaded from here. Since Google likes to keep its goodies reserved for its own platform, the other OS (yeah, iOS), which also depends on Google Maps, is not going to get these features any time soon.