Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,195
30,136



TeleNav has launched a browser-based turn-by-turn navigation service for mobile phones written in HTML5. The service will be free for consumers and developers of mobile websites and apps will be able to integrate turn-by-turn directions into their products.

telenav.jpg


Similar to TeleNav's award-winning GPS navigation application, the HTML5 navigation service will include full-color moving maps, audio directions, and automatic rerouting if the driver misses a turn. TeleNav's HTML5 navigation service will be free for both developers and consumers and will support all major mobile platforms.

"This is an enormous amount of added value for any mobile, location-based website or app focused on travel, shopping, local search, deals and more," said Sal Dhanani, co-founder and vice president of products for TeleNav. "With one line of code, you can give your customers one-click access to premium, voice-guided turn-by-turn directions to any location, including hotels, restaurants, merchants or deal locations. Customers never need to leave your app."
TeleNav plans to launch the service in early 2012, but is accepting applications from interested developers at telenav.com/developer/HTML5.

Article Link: TeleNav Introduces Free HTML5 Browser-Based Navigation Service
 

davie18

macrumors 6502
Dec 29, 2010
287
339
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

I already knew that it was possibly for it to do so, but I would still like to know how it possible that HTML5 can locate you.
 

Böhme417

macrumors 6502a
Mar 11, 2009
980
1,332
It should probably read:
"has launched...for developers"
"plans to launch the service in early 2012 for everyone else"
 

velocityg4

macrumors 604
Dec 19, 2004
7,328
4,716
Georgia
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

Perhaps this will encourage Tomtom to drop their app fee. Although I would still prefery regular GPS. Rather than having a call screw up the directions. Not to mention eat up my data.

I wonder does the Tomtom app actually store the full map locally? That could make it more useful than this.
 

wwooden

macrumors 68020
Jul 26, 2004
2,028
187
Burlington, VT
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

Perhaps this will encourage Tomtom to drop their app fee. Although I would still prefery regular GPS. Rather than having a call screw up the directions. Not to mention eat up my data.

I wonder does the Tomtom app actually store the full map locally? That could make it more useful than this.

Yes, the TomTom app stores all the maps on the phone, the main reason why the App is 1.7gigs. I bought the TomTom for that reason; if I'm traveling, I'm more likely to have GPS signal than data.
 

eNcrypTioN

macrumors 6502
Nov 4, 2009
393
1
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

I'll stick with the garmin app. I like have maps stored locally on my device.
 

cvaldes

macrumors 68040
Dec 14, 2006
3,237
0
somewhere else
Both CoPilot (a paid app) and NavFree (a freebie) also store maps locally.

CoPilot Live Premium HD for the USA is something like 1.5GB.

Navfree Live USA is 1.9GB, but I will note that there are certain individual state apps, so you don't have to download the entire country. For example, Navfree Live California is just 235MB, a more manageable download. One could add additional states when traveling (assuming Navfree offers them).
 
Last edited:

Kid A

macrumors regular
May 1, 2008
238
0
I use Navigon, and fortunately, during the latest drastic update, they made it so you could manage the maps on your device, only storing the maps for the states that you need, and downloading or deleting any maps as needed or not-needed. Much better than the old app that hogged a few GB on my iPhone.
 

bmacir

macrumors 6502
Apr 2, 2009
341
29
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

I'll stick with the garmin app. I like have maps stored locally on my device.

But garmin does not store the maps locally, like tomtom or navigon, right?
 

Joe-Diver

macrumors 6502
Aug 2, 2009
265
0
I'm sure that Garmin and Tom Tom will find some reason to sue....

How do you compete with someone who gives away your product for free?
 

eNcrypTioN

macrumors 6502
Nov 4, 2009
393
1
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

bmacir said:
eNcrypTioN said:
I'll stick with the garmin app. I like have maps stored locally on my device.

But garmin does not store the maps locally, like tomtom or navigon, right?

I think its stored on my phone, it's shows that it's taking up 2.2gb of space.
 

ArtOfWarfare

macrumors G3
Nov 26, 2007
9,541
6,026
I'm sure that Garmin and Tom Tom will find some reason to sue....

How do you compete with someone who gives away your product for free?

Make your product worth the cost.

IE, that's why people use Mac OS X even though many flavors of Linux are free.

But I'm curious... why is this company offering free navigation? They're not bringing in ad money like Google (or are they?) and it's not a built in selling point like the maps app for iPhone...

Actually, if they're bringing in ad money, this could be huge. They just write the plugin and then any developer who uses the plugin is handing them money...
 

mikefla

macrumors 6502
Feb 27, 2011
448
52
This is great but absolutely useless if you have no Internet access because you can't use it. And i'm surprised they didn't mention traffic updates. I believe the idea here is to get lots of users on board then get lots of advertisers and flood the thing with Ads. No surprise there. No thanks, I'll stick with my TomTom iPhone app.

To the user asking, yes TomTom stores all maps locally on your phone so you don't need Internet access to use the app, you just need the app and GPS signal.

-Mike
 

cvaldes

macrumors 68040
Dec 14, 2006
3,237
0
somewhere else
Some of these download-maps-on-demand GPS navigation apps will allow you to prefetch/cache maps before you commence your journey to minimize cellular data usage.

Waze does this to a limited degree (you can refresh your local map cache in the settings). MotionX GPS Drive will allow you to prefetch and/or simulate the journey which will download map tiles. The latter app has user defined settings on how much you want the app to reserve for cached maps.

A third app called skobbler is a hybrid. It allows you to work in online "download-as-you-go" mode for 99 cents. Offline maps are in-app purchases.
 

mingoglia

macrumors 6502
Dec 10, 2009
486
69
Make your product worth the cost.

IE, that's why people use Mac OS X even though many flavors of Linux are free.

But I'm curious... why is this company offering free navigation? They're not bringing in ad money like Google (or are they?) and it's not a built in selling point like the maps app for iPhone...

Actually, if they're bringing in ad money, this could be huge. They just write the plugin and then any developer who uses the plugin is handing them money...

Not exactly. There's many of us that are using Mac's just because we like the hardware and just run OSX because it happens to come with it. Personally I'd be running FreeBSD unix if I had a choice. OSX though works good as an end user operating system though so I'm happy to run it. That's for another thread though. ;)
 

Anonymous Freak

macrumors 603
Dec 12, 2002
5,558
1,233
Cascadia
It's possible to launch an audio stream that just stays open, and have the server-side generate the audio as a continuous stream. Yes, the user would have to click "play" up front to start the stream, but once the stream is going, Safari would continue to play it in the background, just like any other browser-launched audio.

It would be a "live stream", not a recording, where the web page would send events to the server to trigger it adding the voice to the already-going stream.

(Note: I have no inside knowledge, that's just my guess of one way to accomplish an "interactive audio" session that falls within Apple's HTML5 audio guidelines.)
 

EvanBlive91

macrumors member
Jul 17, 2009
43
0
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

As of right now I think I'll stick with Waze
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.