How to save the maps from Google Maps or Yahoo Maps

If you want to schedule a trip and you don't have a GPS unit (or gps receiver) or access to internet (mobile internet or your hotel doesn't have internet) you can download maps with the locations you want to visit. The program is named gmapcatcher. With gmapcatcher you can download maps from CloudMade OpenStreetMap Google Maps Yahoo InformationFreeway OpenCycleMap Google Map Maker Virtual Earth. The best thing about gmapcatcher is that is works on virtually all operating systems: Windows Linux and OSX.

How you can save the maps? Simple. Start gmapcatcher and choose the place you want to see.  All viewed maps will be stored automatically on disk and you can view them offline. You can also select a defined area and save it using the provided download tool. You can select what kind of map you want to see/download: map satellite terrain and hybrid. To download the map for offline use you must specify the following: the coordinates of the area the width and height of the area (in km) and the maximum and minimum zoom level. after that press download and wait. If you want to download maps for multiple locations you can use batch download.

Another great thing is that you can use gmapcatcher with a GPS receiver. The GPS functionality is supported using the gps daemon.