Google Introduces Free GPS Navigation for Android 2.0

[edesignuk]

Those nat service providers' fears were actually quite justified. Google today unveiled Maps Navigation (beta, of course), an extremely upgraded version of its current Maps software that'll be free and, from what we understand, available by default on all Android 2.0 devices. All the usual Maps features are present, including the ability to search by name of business and have it suggest the closest matches, both semantically and geographically, and traffic data. We're also now looking at turn-by-turn navigation, female robotic voice and all, and integration with satellite and street view, the latter of which will be able to show you what lane you need to be in when exiting the highway, for example. Instead of just searching nearby, it'll also now search along the route for when you're looking for upcoming gas stations or fast food joints that won't take you too far off your beaten path. Select addresses can be added to the Android home screen as their own icons, and given the limits of living in the cloud, trips and their respective visual feeds will be cached just in case you hit dead spots along the way. Still no multitouch, but as VP of Engineering Vic Gundotra noted at a press conference, there's nothing stopping a company like HTC from adding that feature à la Sense UI.

In addition to demonstrating the basic navigational functions, Gundotra also showcased a new user interface that appears when the device hooked up into a car dock, one that is intended for use "at an arm's length away." Essentially, it means much larger iconography and a convenient "voice search" option front and center. We later got confirmation from a Google product manager that car dock detection was definitively a hardware-based feature, which we take to mean Android devices currently on the market won't necessarily have the same convenience. If Android 2.0 takes off how Google (and Verizon!) hope it does, companies like TomTom and Garmin are going to seriously need to worry about their bottom line. Watch Gundotra demonstrate the app after the break.

Engadget [more from Google]

Awesome

[Tilpots]

Turn by Turn with Street View FTW!

[iOrlando]

i like it.. (when it comes to the iphone)

[iSimx]

Originally Posted by iOrlando

i like it.. (when it comes to the iphone)

+1

[xsecretfiles]

I got the feeling this will be blocked by at&T if it ever comes to the iphone.........

[rhett7660]

Originally Posted by xsecretfiles

I got the feeling this will be blocked by at&T if it ever comes to the iphone.........

Why???

[pmjoe]

Oh well, if Apple ever opened up the iPhone, we could have an Android app runtime specialized to the iPhone and just run whatever Android apps we want.

[Dreamail]

Originally Posted by iSimx

Originally Posted by iOrlando
i like it.. (when it comes to the iphone)
+1

I wouldn't hold my breath!
Seriously.

It will not come to the iPhone any time soon. Not from Google. Mark my words.
Google and Apple's ties are over.
It is competition now.


This is one heck of a competitive advantage for any Android phone.
So why would Google offer it for the iPhone?
Remember, this app is _free_ on Android. Google would not earn anything by porting to the iPhone (except the user data). Yet it would destroy the Android's advantage.
Forget it.
Not happening any time soon.
Apple must have known this, which is why they bought that other map company...


The two most impressive features:

- Talk to the device and say 'navigate to the King Tut exhibition in San Francisco'.
And the app a) figures out what you actually said, b) searches what 'King Tut' actually means c) searches for a Tutankhamun exhibition in San Francisco d) grabs its address and e) navigates you there.

I know of no GPS system in the world that can do that.


- Streetview while navigating.

Again, no other GPS system in the world does this as no other company has Streetview data.


These two features will not come to any GPS system in a long while.
It will remain an Android exclusive.

[Darth.Titan]

Originally Posted by Dreamail

I wouldn't hold my breath!
Seriously.

It will not come to the iPhone any time soon. Not from Google. Mark my words.
Google and Apple's ties are over.
It is competition now.
....
These two features will not come to any GPS system in a long while.
It will remain an Android exclusive.

You seem to have missed the part where the story says:

However, Google is working with Apple on bringing it to the iPhone, and it's not ruling out licensing the software to makers of portable navigation devices used in cars throughout the world, said Gundotra, vice president of engineering at Google for mobile and developers. The process involving Apple is slightly different from the usual App Store submission process, because Maps is a built-in iPhone application, he said.

[muskratboy]

Originally Posted by Dreamail

I know of no GPS system in the world that can do that.

yeah, well... if it works as well as the current google maps, apple has nothing to worry about.

maps gets things COMPLETELY wrong on my phone about 45% of the time.

so yeah, the idea is good... but i have zero confidence that something like this will work with any regularity.

all that looking things up on it's own? no way will that work consistently. or not any time in the near future, for sure.

[mattster16]

Originally Posted by Dreamail

This is one heck of a competitive advantage for any Android phone.
So why would Google offer it for the iPhone?
Remember, this app is _free_ on Android. Google would not earn anything by porting to the iPhone (except the user data). Yet it would destroy the Android's advantage.
Forget it.
Not happening any time soon.
Apple must have known this, which is why they bought that other map company...

I thought Android was open source? What does Google have to gain from there being more Android devices other than more usage data and more integrated/easier ad placement? Isn't that what they make their money off of? It seems to me Android is the ideal way for them to get data and sell ads more effectively, but they would still want that opportunity from every other mobile platform as well. Their goal is more data mining and ad sales, they aren't interested in dominating the smartphone market.

[LagunaSol]

Originally Posted by Dreamail

The two most impressive features:

- Talk to the device and say 'navigate to the King Tut exhibition in San Francisco'.
And the app a) figures out what you actually said, b) searches what 'King Tut' actually means c) searches for a Tutankhamun exhibition in San Francisco d) grabs its address and e) navigates you there.

If by "most impressive" you mean "a complete failure," then I agree with you.

Unfortunately, voice recognition remains more promise than practice. I gave up on voice recognition on the Google app on my iPhone after the first day, and the Voice Control feature on the iPhone is less than solid. I have little hope that the voice recognition on Google's nav app will reliably work the way you describe.

Originally Posted by fat phil

Hah voice navigation, no thanks! It'll probably send me driving off a cliff.

Here here! Wait, or was that...hear hear?

[hiimamac]

Originally Posted by iOrlando

i like it.. (when it comes to the iphone)

Yeah but will it be just as good? Not sure if it's my phone or the iPhone gps. Tom Tom for example, is spot in, with thebtom Tom app on the iPhone you get messages like "poor gps signal" to being about 3-5 seconds behind on where you really are. I know I can't be alone in saying it wouldn't redirect or work fast enough and you end up passing the steet, or is it due to my phone not being the 3GS vs older 3G.


Should be quite a few options when I come up reduced price in January for me or dump AT&T and use the current iPhone somewhere else and get another smart phone. Of course I use my dates, iCal all the time so it should be fine.

There isnalao some fact that the kit has a louder speaker and GPS booster but it's really going to come down to price, iCal, GPS, and flash. As I want to have the abilty, which I do, to watch shows without jailbreaking.
Another few factors are teethering which I can do and have done it once or twice bust more importantly, pricing on data plans and text. Have gv mobile account and listed the number on AT&Ts
A list so all
my calls are free but not sure if the text is. Has to be a way to drop
texting and use the gv mobile. Or does it show upmas texting? Anyone know. I also noticed in my gv google accounts I have three invites I can awns to people. Google are so on the ball. I wish them luck and hope to oneday see their OS work as well as Suns looking glass OS where a lot of leopard ideas come from. Google project looking glass sun. Yhen watch the video
it goes to a live demo about 1:44 in or so.

Peace.

[MacRumors]

Google today announced a free, turn-by-turn GPS navigation application for the new Android 2.0 smart phone platform.

This new feature comes with everything you'd expect to find in a GPS navigation system, like 3D views, turn-by-turn voice guidance and automatic rerouting. But unlike most navigation systems, Google Maps Navigation was built from the ground up to take advantage of your phone's Internet connection.

Among the features included in the application:

- Up-to-date map data: Automatically includes latest map data from Google, which is constantly being refined by Google and by users submitting corrections
- Plain English search: Locate destinations by entering business business name or landmark; no address needed
- Voice search: Speak destinations and Google Maps Navigation will automatically interpret and plot routes
- Live traffic data: Indicator warns of upcoming traffic issues
- Search along route: Find businesses along path of travel
- Satellite view: 3D view of route to aid in understanding directions
- Street View: first-person perspective of route and destination images

A video preview of Google Maps Navigation has also been posted.

CNET notes that Google and Apple are in fact working to bring the application to the iPhone, although no details of a launch timeframe have been released.

However, Google is working with Apple on bringing it to the iPhone, and it's not ruling out licensing the software to makers of portable navigation devices used in cars throughout the world, said Gundotra, vice president of engineering at Google for mobile and developers. The process involving Apple is slightly different from the usual App Store submission process, because Maps is a built-in iPhone application, he said.

Article Link: Google Introduces Free GPS Navigation for Android 2.0

[izibo]

Wow, thats unreal. Great move for Google.

[Eddyisgreat]

Wow am I jealous?

Nah. But this does look nice.

[Michael73]

Incredible. I hope it's ported to the iPhone OS.

[stridemat]

Originally Posted by Michael73

Incredible. I hope it's ported to the iPhone OS.

and the chance of that happening is very minimal IMO

[billystlyes]

Android 2 rules!

[skate71290]

kind of pisses all over tom-tom for the iPhone at £60 lol

[lazyrighteye]

"Competition is good" in motion.
This will only force Apple to step it up even more. And I'm fine with that.

[Dwalls90]

Originally Posted by lazyrighteye

"Competition is good" in motion.
This will only force Apple to step it up even more. And I'm fine with that.

Absolutely, my thoughts exactly.

[drumcat]

Adios Garmin. You could have been the shiznit, leading this stuff. Instead, you gave us nuviphone.

MASSIVE FAIL GARMIN.

[blizaine]

I bought the navigon app and it is alright but I find myself always going back to the built in google map app. Mainly because it loads faster and it seems like the navigon app never has the point of interest I search for, but google always does.

[nwcs]

It's a nice play by google but I don't think it will have a great impact on the market overall. As more cars come with integrated, and specialized, GPS navigation systems the desire for handheld units will start declining. There's an opportunity now but probably not 5-10 years from now.

When the next iPhone is released next summer it will be interesting to see how Apple raises their game (or doesn't).