According to the Dutch, Google Navigation Offline Mode is on the Way

Google Navigation, the famed free navigation app that comes standard on all Google phones, may have an offline mode by the summer.  

GPS navigation, long the domain of Garmin and TomTom, was turned on its head when Google released a free Android app that replicated and improved on every feature traditionally found in dedicated GPS devices.  The only sticking point was the requirement of a constant data connection.  This renders Google Navigation useless while travelling to different countries or to anybody with a small data plan.

According to All About Phones, a Dutch blog, a telecom industry insider says that Google will offer a way to use Navigation while offline.  A few features that require data wouldn't work including any of the live data features Google offers, but all the basic GPS navigation features would be easy to implement.  In fact, last December, Google started caching data in Google Maps for locations you that you frequent to help ease the data usage.

This will compete directly with the Nokia's Ovi Maps which will soon be integrated into Windows Phone 7.  It looks like Garmin and TomTom will have to find a new way to compete, especially since these two navigation solutions are free.

If this rumour is indeed true and a summer launch is imminent, we'll probably get all the details very soon.

[SOURCE]