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Im working on an Android map plotting app that uses a map. After searching for ages I found that the GPS on the phones doesnt cost anything but loading the maps does as that doesnt go through the GPS. So if I had maps preloaded on the phone then a navigational app / plotter would be completely free?
Yes, pretty much. You can determine a device’s location based on only GPS data (provided it can find enough satellites). Having a network connection usually speeds things up significantly though.
Also, I wouldn’t say that using the GPS doesn’t ‘cost anything’, since it is kind of a battery hog. Just something to keep in mind.
By the way, if you update the Google Maps app to the latest version on Plat, you get an “Make available offline” menu option. This allows you to select a region that will be cached locally (downloaded onto the device) and hence does not require a network connection to display the tiles. From the top of my head I cannot tell you whether these cached maps are available for other apps too, or private to Google Maps. You may want to check with Google’s licensing policy on this first, in case you were planning on heading into this direction.
Note that you do still need internet in order to calculate the shortest/fastest route from A to B from within the Google Maps app.