Google Maps Navigation – a challenger to regular GPS?

Image Source: Google Maps Navigation

Snippet of an article originally posted on MyBroadband.co.za (Staff writer)

Google unveiled a free navigation system for mobile phones on Wednesday in a move seen as a potential challenge to the makers of GPS navigation devices.

US telecom carrier Verizon Wireless and US handset maker Motorola announced meanwhile that a new smartphone going on sale in the United States next week, the Droid, would be the first to feature Google Maps Navigation.

The Droid, which will cost 200 dollars after a 100-dollar rebate and is being touted as a challenger to Apple’s popular iPhone, is powered by Android 2.0, Google’s next-generation mobile phone operating system.

Google Maps Navigation will currently only work on smartphones using Android 2.0.

It includes many of the features of a traditional GPS device made by companies such as Garmin and TomTom such as three-dimensional (3D) views and turn-by-turn voice guidance.

The Internet-connected system allows navigation using voice search in English, provides live traffic data, satellite imagery from Google Maps and Google’s “street view” — real pictures of destinations.

Original MyBroadband.co.za post HERE.

Head over to the official Google Maps Navigation pages for more information, a video clip of what it’s all about, and loads of screenshots by clicking HERE.

This is seriously cool – hopefully it won’t take too long to make its way over to sunny South Africa…

Who says stustake.com isn’t educational? Hmmm?