Many technology publications on the Internet are abuzz with the recent news about Google blocking Windows Phone users from accessing its Maps service. The search giant was quoted saying the following statement.
The mobile web version of Google Maps is optimized for WebKit browsers such as Chrome and Safari. However, since Internet Explorer is not a WebKit browser, Windows Phone devices are not able to access Google Maps for the mobile web.
While it is true that Google Maps on the mobile web is optimized for WebKit-based browsers, the part that says Windows Phone users are not able to use it due to the different engine it uses is just a blatant lie. Google Maps has always worked on Windows Phone even before, albeit not as smooth as on the other browsers. It’s just Google blocking the access by redirecting Windows Phone users who go to maps.google.com to their homepage.
In fact, you can still access Google Maps on your Windows Phone’s browser, just don’t expect an excellent an aesthetic interface as Google seemed to made it look awful (it didn’t look this way before). So how? Simple. Go to Google.com, search for a place and put the phrase ‘Google Maps’ on the end of the keyword, just like ‘Manhattan Google Maps’. Now click the first link to maps.google.com, and it will take you to the right place. See the image below.
This just proves that Google Maps does work in Windows Phone and that they’re the only ones who say otherwise.
By the way, if you want a decent Google Maps app on your phone, you can use gMaps (free, pro), a nice alternative to the mobile web version.
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