OREANDA-NEWS. MAPS.ME, the free offline maps and navigation app for iPhone and Android, announces the release of Walking Directions. The addition of the new feature provides unprecedented accuracy and location awareness to hikers, travelers and anyone in need of location information.

The hassles of expense, traffic congestion and parking are some of the reasons why more and more people in big cities are choosing to walk – instead of driving a car. Out in National parks and on hiking trails, MAPS.ME includes a lot of out-of-town trails in mountains, hills, forests and countryside routes. Additionally, the free app can track some closed gates, private territories and build an alternative route around them.

“MAPS.ME walking routes extend where Google Maps can’t, including footpaths, walking trails and even up staircases, because MAPS.ME data is gathered by its enthusiastic community of contributors,” said Yuri Melnichek, Head of Maps Business Unit, Mail.Ru Group,“Because MAPS.ME data is always available, even when the user is offline, it provides a vital navigation tool for hikers, travelers and others who need directions the most, when they are out of cell phone range.”

MAPS.ME provides world maps and navigation offline to nearly 25 million downloads each month. Its map source – OpenStreetMap (OSM) is created and updated by editors, just like Wikipedia articles; users all over the globe can edit maps, adding cities, roads and locations. This crowdsourced model allows for the most detailed and current map of the world. Today OSM has 2 million edits per day and approximately 23.000 contributors per month.