turn-by-turn directions
Latest
Unagi's $2,440 smart scooter includes turn-by-turn directions and GPS tracking
A higher-end Model Eleven has an ADAS collision-detection sensor.
MapQuest iPhone gets free voice navigation; TomTom lifetime map and traffic PNDs now available (update: Navigon MobileNavigator 1.5 too)
Chalk up another two wins for cheap consumer GPS. Like Google Maps Navigation before it, the MapQuest 4 Mobile iPhone app has just now added gratis turn-by-turn voice directions... and ahead of schedule, TomTom has begun bundling its new 2010 Personal Navigation Devices, including the XL 340S and the XXL 540S -- with lifetime traffic and maps subscriptions. The latter are now available on Amazon for a $30-per-lifetime-subscription premium in a variety of increasingly feature-filled flavors, with helpful T (traffic), M (maps) and TM (traffic and maps) suffixes so you know which TomTom is which. If you prefer buying from brick and mortar, TomTom expects retail availability beginning in April. Full list of supported TomTom models and expected MSRP after the break. Update: The 1.5.0 iPhone update to MobileNavigator from Navigon that includes MyRoutes, Facebook and Twitter integration, and Panorama View 3D is finally up on iTunes as well.
Navigon determined to link with every app it can
Navigon continues to be very aggressive at making its navigation platform a continued top seller for the iPhone. Today, the company announced an open app interface called AppInteract, which is a simple script that embeds a link into any app to launch Navigon's MobileNavigator. At the same time, it transfers any selected address into turn-by-turn directions. "For example, if you find a restaurant in an app that has implemented our AppInteract interface, you can get turn-by-turn directions to a chosen place instantly," said Gerhard Mayr, vice-president worldwide mobile phones and new markets for Navigon. "Our aim is to provide elegant and easy to use navigation solutions, for our customers, as well as to the developer community." The technology has already been embedded in the Where To? app that I've reviewed previously. Now every developer who wants the technology can get easy access to it. It's clear Navigon wants to become a hub for all the apps that look up addresses, and for good reason -- there are many of those in the App Store. Looking back, it's amazing how far the iPhone has come in the last couple of years. I suspect there is a lot more around the corner, especially with iPhone 4.0 being released later this year.
Review: On the road with the Magellan Premium Car Kit
Magellan was nice enough to loan me a Premium Car Kit for the iPhone or iPod touch, so I put it in the car and drove around on both city streets and highways to get an idea how it worked, particularly with the excellent Magellan Road Mate software [iTunes link]. The Magellan kit is advertised to work with most other GPS apps, and can be used with many iPhone cases so you don't have to pull your iPhone out of a case to get it into the cradle. Setting up was easy: just plug in the cigarette lighter power adapter, plug the other end of that cable into the cradle, and using the provided suction cup to attach it to your glass windshield. I was able to do that without incident. When the unit powers up, it is automatically in pairing mode, and my iPhone found it quickly and paired. I have an InCase rubberized case for my phone, and even with the case, my iPhone seemed to fit into the cradle just fine, but more on that in a moment. The Premium Car Kit has a built in GPS receiver, and I found that signal acquisition seemed faster than using the iPhone built-in GPS. The product is advertised as working with any iPod touch (2nd generation or better) but since I don't have one of those laying around, I didn't get a chance to test that claim.
CoPilot Live now offers almost complete nav app for free
ALK Technologies, the creators of CoPilot Live, have released a free version of their navigation app with some catches. The free version, called CoPilot Directions [iTunes link] has turn-by-turn navigation, trip planning and 2D maps. You can download the whole map database over Wi-Fi (not via iTunes) or you can download individual states or cities to save space on your iPhone. If you download the free version, you get a free, 30-day sample of the complete app, including voice navigation with street names, 3D views, and the ever important option to update to the full version. After 30 days users can opt to continue using premium voice-guided GPS navigation with a 12-month or 30-day subscription via in-app purchase ($19.99 and $2.99 respectively), or they can simply continue to enjoy free lifetime use of map-only, turn-by-turn directions. CoPilot Directions sits alongside a feature-complete version called CoPilot Live North America [iTunes link], which costs U.S. $34.99 and allows in-app purchases of live services, like Traffic Reports, Gas Prices, and Live Local Search. We reviewed that version of the app and found it to be about average in terms of ease of use, accuracy of the database, and features. I don't see any way to update to CoPilot Live North America from CoPilot Directions, so if you go with Directions you are stuck and unable to recoup any of your investment. Potential buyers should carefully consider which way they go, because after a few years the subscription option gets expensive. As a result, I think ALK has complicated, rather than simplified the choices for consumers. Even if you opt for two years of CoPilot Directions, it costs more than CoPilot Live North America. The free version is fine, but without any voice prompts it's not the safest way to get from point A to point B. CoPilot Directions also has run up a pretty significant negative score at the iTunes Store, with customers complaining mainly about the accuracy of the maps. Other were quite pleased with it, especially for the price. ALK also offers versions for the UK and Ireland [iTunes link], as well as CoPilot Live Europe [iTunes link]. The app runs on the iPhone 3G and 3GS and requires at least version 3.0 of the iPhone OS.
G-Map back in action with new nav app
XRoad gave us one of the first Nav apps for the iPhone. It's still for sale under the name G-Map West or East, and gives users either a Western or Eastern U.S. version. It was pretty basic when it first came out, but there have been many improvements. Now the folks at XRoad have a new app that covers the whole of the U.S., Puerto Rico, and Canada, and it's on sale for US$39.99. The new version of the app brings text to speech to the party, free traffic service for one year, and a claimed update to the Navteq data. Like many of the competitors out there, G-Map offers address book integration, 3D views of the road, detailed renderings of thousands of intersections, trip planning, and it allows the editing of POI information by adding notes or phone numbers. So how does it work in the world of cars, traffic, and road closures? OK, but it's not wonderful. First, the app is pretty slow. It acquires a GPS signal right away, but then G-Map takes it's own sweet time orienting the maps. For a few seconds, your direction of travel is not at the top. After a bit, G-Map figures it out, but I think if you were launching the app when you were already underway, you'd get some pretty confusing visual cues. When you get a call, the app stops, and after the call you can go back in. When I did go back into the app, I had to once again acknowledge the legal mumbo-jumbo by tapping on the screen.
Another turn by turn app with voice for the iPhone
Many months ago I received a review copy of G-Map for the iPhone. It had its own maps and turn by turn directions, but no voice guidance, and North was always up. Apple was limiting nav apps at that time, and I had real trouble with G-Map. I couldn't load it on my iPhone. It kept locking up about halfway through the process. Extensive back and forth with the developers in Japan came to nothing, so I gave up. Finally, last April, my colleague Steve Sande was able to load it, and reviewed it for TUAW.Now, with iPhones having new hardware and new software, G-Map [App Store] works and is certainly a competitor to the subscription-based AT&T app. You buy G-Map in one of several editions. G-Map West, at US$34.99, covers the Western States, and G-Map East covers, you guessed it, the Eastern U.S. It is also priced at 34.99. It gets a bit tricky, because some states like Illinois, Michigan, Tennessee and Wisconsin are split. If you travel all around those states you will probably want both editions.There is also a California edition for $19.99, and one at the same price for New Jersey and New York. Versions for Canada and Europe are coming. All the G-Map modules require iPhone software version 3.0.So how does it work? Pretty well, but with some caveats. It's accurate at getting your position. The voice directions are quite audible, especially compared to the distorted AT&T app. The on-screen display gives you your speed limit, distance to your next turn, distance to destination and time to destination. It also plots major intersections in a very detailed 3D view, which is helpful. This works in the largest 185 metro areas.Another plus is that all the maps are on your phone. If you slide out of AT&T's service area the maps are still there; in contrast, the Telenav-based AT&T Navigator app will not work if you don't have data coverage, as the maps are downloaded on-demand.There are some downsides. The POI database is pretty thin in smaller towns. From Southern Arizona it couldn't find the Phoenix Airport. It probably would have found it when I was closer, but even a POI search didn't bring it up. As I was sitting at a long established car wash, it said no car washes were nearby. It did better with restaurants, banks, and hospitals. Like the AT&T app, there is no landscape mode, and you can't get access to your address book, which is just plain silly. It looks like the database, which comes from Navteq, has some errors, as do all such systems. Navigating to a restaurant, G-map reported it was on the left, when it was actually on the right. Unlike the AT&T Navigator, G-Map has no real time traffic, but it does provide info from Navteq's traffic statistics to predict trouble areas. Even with some weakness, G-Map is a worthy competitor to the AT&T iPhone app. If you have the room on your phone (G-Map West is 824 MB), you can navigate without worrying about cell network access.It's cheaper than a monthly subscription would be over time, although there is no word when maps will be updated and what the cost will be. If the G-Map developers clean up the POI database, and add a lot more to it, I think they may sell a lot of apps. As it is, for getting to places where you know the address, it works about as well as the AT&T Navigator at a fraction of the cost. Of course more choices are coming, including the much discussed TomTom app, so you may want to wait it out and see what other offerings come along.Here are some screen shots that show some of the major features:%Gallery-67530%
Cruising with the AT&T Navigator
I love GPS. in the mid 1990s I had a Garmin unit that had no maps, just a bread crumb trail of where you were and where you'd been. I lived in England at the time, and thought I had a highly original idea to take it to the Royal Observatory at Greenwich and walk across the Meridian line and watch the screen as the numbers dropped to zero longitude. When I got there, I was hardly alone. I was surrounded by other geeks doing exactly the same thing. Oh well.GPS has come a long way, and AT&T has released their subscription based Navigator [App Store] for the iPhone. It requires OS version 3.0. It is fee based, and will set you back US$9.95 a month on your AT&T bill. It is loaded with features, and has voice guided turn by turn directions. It also offers: Automatic rerouting Updated maps with no additional charge Real time traffic updates Fuel Price searches and navigation to those locations Point of interest searches in all the usual categories like ATM machines, hospitals, restaurants, airports The map gives you a 3D view from a position just above and behind your vehicle. On the setup page you can chose flat maps if your prefer. I found the maps easy to read but would have preferred a landscape view instead of portrait (there is no option to change the orientation). I saw a little lag when driving, but generally the response was fast. The app really needs a 3G connection. It works on the EDGE network, but was slow to load graphics. If you are somewhere where you have neither you are out of luck. No maps are contained on the app and nothing is cached. In essence, the app is only as good as the AT&T network, and if you do a lot of driving where the network is weak or absent, you'll be navigating on your own.I found the voice very hard to hear. This is a limitation of the iPhone speaker. It just wasn't designed to be played at a loud volume. On the highway, with road noise, good luck hearing that warning to turn. Of course, the directions are on the map, but the whole purpose of voice instructions is to keep you from looking at the map.Other features are a high altitude view of your entire trip from beginning to end, a list of your turns on a scrollable page, directions to the nearest AT&T WiFi hotspots (nice), and the ability to set your default navigation method like shortest, fastest, traffic optimized, prefer highways or streets, or pedestrian routing if you're not driving.I found the voice alerts were too frequent. Frankly, the app is a blabbermouth, and it kept reminding me of a faraway turn too often for my taste. It would be nice to be able to set just how aggressive the voice warnings are.The big question for most iPhone users will be whether to wait for other nav apps to appear. TomTom is imminent, as is an app from Navigon. They both download the maps to your phone, so you are not dependent on the AT&T network. You only need GPS, and that signal is everywhere. You could also buy an inexpensive dedicated unit; on the low end that will cost about the same as a year of the AT&T subscription, and will certainly have a better speaker. Of course, there will be fees to update the maps, but in my experience you can use a GPS for years without doing that. Points of interest change, but the iPhone provides other sources like Google for up to date info.I also think it is a bloody shame that the AT&T app has no access to your address book. Apple has walled that data off from 3rd party apps, (Update: Apple provides the ability, the Navigator app hasn't implemented it) and it is just senseless to have you type everything in again. You can copy and paste the data, but it is a needless pain. The AT&T app has this access when it runs on other phones like the Blackberry.In summary, the app works, and is feature laden. I'm not sure it is the best option for in-car navigation, and you might want to wait for other solutions to appear. Of course, you can always get the AT&T app and cancel. It's a month-by-month charge.So how is it like to drive with this app? My colleague Steven Sande did just that, and his report will follow soon.Before you go, here are some screen shots to give you a look at some of the features on AT&T Navigator:%Gallery-67289%
