Overworld Maps

Guides

How to put a game-style map on Android Auto

Android Auto lets navigation apps draw their own map on the car screen. Overworld Maps is one of them: it shows your real roads in the style of GTA V, Red Dead 2 or GTA VI, with a game HUD where the usual cards would be. Here is how to set it up.

The GTA VI world on a car screen at Connaught Place

What you need

  • An Android phone on Android 10 or newer.
  • A car with Android Auto, wired or wireless.
  • A Google account on the phone, for the Google Play copy.

Set it up

  1. Get the Play copy. Email your Gmail address to gaurav@thealgothrim.com. You'll get the Play testing link back. Open it on your phone, accept, and install Overworld Maps from Play. The Play page can look bare while the store listing is in review; that's normal.
  2. Open it once on the phone. Allow location. When it asks to run in the background, say yes: some phones pause apps while they're locked, and the map would stop mid-drive.
  3. Connect to the car. Overworld appears in Android Auto's app launcher. If it doesn't, open Android Auto's settings on the phone, go to Customize launcher and turn it on.
  4. Pick a world. On the phone it's the Layers sheet. In the car, it's Settings on the map screen.
  5. Start a trip. Use Search, Nearby or Saved on the car screen, plan it on the phone, or ask Android Auto to navigate somewhere.

What you'll see in the car

The game HUD owns the left of the screen and Android Auto keeps the right. The turn card sits top-left with "Then" and road alerts. The time card sits bottom-left with the speedometer on it and the speed-limit sign beside it. The street name runs along the bottom.

Sound, zoom and the route overview are round buttons drawn in each world's style. They appear with a touch and leave again, so the map stays clear while you drive. Drag or pinch the map and a re-centre button stays until you tap it.

The HUD is drawn for a wide 1920x720 screen and scales down to fit smaller head units and the map's half of a split screen.

If something looks wrong

Overworld isn't in the car's app list
Check Customize launcher first, then check you installed the Play copy. A sideloaded APK shows up in some cars with Android Auto's Unknown sources setting on, and not in others. Google Play is the dependable route.
The map stops when the phone locks
Open Settings in the app, then Phone locked, and let it run unrestricted in the background.
It says "Location not found"
The phone has lost GPS for a while. The app says so instead of showing a frozen marker, and carries on when the fix returns.
Join Play testingDownload the APK