This is Part 3 of my Travel in China series, Part 1 deals with communications, Part 2 on Transport; and I’m going to talk on Navigation in this Part 3. With Google blocked in Mainland China, the mighty Google maps is hence not much use there and maps of most Chinese areas are not available for offline download anyway. The alternative (and a very good one) is a Chinese map app called A Map- 高德地图（专业的手机地图）-自驾、公交出行神器…
It’s developed by a Mainland Chinese company called AutoNavi Information Technology Co. Ltd. (www.amap.com/) and has both Android (download Android version here) and iOS for iPhone (iPhone version here) version – both well acclaimed by users. It’s said to have a nice navigating voice by a top Taiwan actress (林志玲倾情代言，真人语音导航)! :-), and if you don’t like her, you have the choice of 郭德纲 too.
My experience is that it has much more map details in China than Google Map, and it has offline map data (either just map data or with navigation also – bigger file) available for downloading for many city areas. This is important as you may not have data access (or may not want to use the relatively expensive data roaming) while on the road. I found it most useful while roaming recently around the streets of Qingdao using the offline map and locating functions (including GPS) of the mobile phone only (no data access is needed). It shows your location and it has landmarks, sightseeing places, etc. right on the map with more details including photos if you click those places/icons. Your mobile needs sight of the sky though, so if you are in the bus or car, you need to have your phone next to the window or under the windscreen.
So download for free, install and enjoy! If go for the A Map fun edition, it has funny phrases too to lessen your driving stress! 高德发布的高德地图欢笑版，其最大的特色是除了能够常规地播报“减速、拐弯、到达目的地”等基本导航动作之外，还会时不时的抖出一句郭德纲令人捧腹的段子。e.g. “前方有急转弯，它急你别急”!
Disclaimer – I’ve no interest in A Map nor I received anything from them. The above is just my experience in using it.