Sherman's Travel

These days, a smartphone is expected to do more than just field calls and text messages. Increasingly, users are ditching paper maps in favor of handheld screens, and if you’re the owner of an Android smartphone, you just so happen to own one of the most powerful routing devices on the planet. Google’s own mapping system is arguably the most robust in the world, but even a world-class navigation system won’t do you much good if you wander off-grid. If you’re ever in rural places with weak mobile coverage, or in foreign countries where you’d rather not run up a high roaming bill just to navigate, it’s worth it to understand your offline options. Read more

Around the web we’ve seen a surge of travel news already this month, and to keep you up to date we’ve rounded up yesterday’s most exciting announcements, from Google Maps’ Street Roo to map Australia’s Outback, to Virgin Volcanic’s introduction of volcano expeditions. There’s also a host of new airline options and even some job postings worth looking into (especially if you, like most people, did not win this weekend’s Mega Millions lottery).

You’ve undoubtedly already heard of Virgin Galactic’s space tourism, but Virgin announced yesterday its next project, Virgin Volcanic, which will allow travel to the cores of active volcanoes (www.virginvolcanic.com). Trips in the 3-person WS1 volcano vehicle are scheduled to begin in 2015, with initial trips manned by Virgin billionaire CEO Sir Richard Branson, Tom Hanks, Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas, Seth Green, and Barbara Kopple, a two-time Academy Award winning documentary filmmaker who will direct a documentary on the expeditions. As Sir Richard says, “Alongside our adventures with Virgin Galactic and Virgin Oceanic, volcanoes are the next great unexplored terrain. What can I say, I lava challenge!”

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We’ve all been there: Your plane has landed late and you have ten minutes to get to a connecting flight in an airport you’ve never been to. You have to get from the domestic flights to the international flights and you know there’s a shuttle, but you don’t know where it is. You haven’t got the time to wait in line at the information desk or to try and figure out where the “You Are Here” signs are. Enter Google Maps 6.0 with its new indoor maps, complete with floor plans and indoor search and navigation options. Google Maps can take you to whichever gate you need, no time wasted.

Or that’s the theory, at any rate. Currently, Google Maps 6.0 is available only for phones operating with Android OS 2.1 or above, and only in select locations, most of which are airports and department stores. It’s technically only in its beta stage, so it still has a few kinks to work out, as I learned while testing the new feature in the Herald Square Macy’s.

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