TA Maps: Google Maps for Windows Phone 7
Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 OS ships with an integrated Bing Maps client, but Bing’s map data is lacking in many parts of the world. Unfortunately Google does not have a maps client for Windows Phone 7 yet, so some WP7 users are stuck between a rock and a hard place.
We’ve come up with (the start of) a solution: TechAutos Maps is a basic Google Maps client for Windows Phone 7. It’s meant as a temporary solution until Google releases its official app (hopefully soon), and is still missing lots of features (POI search, favorites, etc.), but some users might find it useful even in its current shape. TA Maps must be side-loaded (i.e. not from the Marketplace), so it requires unlocking your WP7 phone (see instructions).
See here for more info, screenshots, and installation instructions: TechAutos Maps for Windows Phone 7
Quick question… is there any particular reason you guys can't release this on the marketplace?
I have the same question. I would get this if it was on the marketplace. Don't know why it's not.
Google Maps' terms of service would probably preclude any unofficial Google-based maps app being posted on the WP7 marketplace.
actually, not so, have a look at: http://www.google.com/enterprise/earthmaps/maps_f… from what I understand using the free API is allowed, but you can't charge for your app.
Which leads me to my next point, techautos have done an awesome job starting this project, but they can't charge for it unless they pay for a $10,000 enterprise google maps license. so why not make it free, and why not open up the source… there is plenty of people who would want to participate and make this better with more functionality etc, could end up being one of the best google maps clients around!
I loaded this and it does nothing but show a map. Oh, and a pointer to where I am. The point of this app is what? It's Google instead of Bing? Give me a break. This isn't even beta worthy. This is like all those Tablet Computers everyone's promising. Stop with the fluff. And thanks for wasting my time.
Both this article and the app's description page clearly list what it does and doesn't do. As for the purpose, there are many places around the world where Bing's map data is quite lacking; a result, WP7 phones are useless there as navigation devices. This is one step towards having a full Google Maps implementation on WP7 (which Google will hopefully release soon enough).