Hi,

I've noticed that a lot of people have been asking about how much data the mapping programs use, which could be relevant if you are not on an unlimited data plan.

I did a quick test to see how different their data use is.

I mapped my parent's house (a location not in the cache of either program), and then mapped directions to a restaurant several miles away (El Burrito, 80521, its delicious). Then I zoomed in to a useful distance, and followed the route, allowing the program to load the maps fully at each step.

BBMaps used 29kb of data.

Google Maps used 128kb of data. After using satellite mode to get a closer look at the building, data usage was up to 220kb.

BBMaps is clearly the winner, when it comes to data usage. However, the quality of maps looked better with Google Maps, and the interface was easier to use. And perhaps best of all, with Google Maps, I didn't even need to know the address of the restaurant, just the name and city. About 5k of Google's usage involved the look-up of the address.

Anyway, hope this quick test helps people decide which to use. I much prefer Google Maps, but if I were on a non-unlimited data plan, the fact that BBMaps uses about 1/4 the data that Google Maps does would be an appealing feature.

Peace,
Sam