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The navigation industry has been rocked by a new Google mapping service that not only delivers turn by turn navigation for an Android smartphone, but will deliver images of the end destination. The new service is set to hurt navigation Companies.
The new Google turn-by-turn service will be available on Android 2.0 phones, which several carriers are set to release in Australia in coming months in an effort to take on the popular Apple iPhone.
Carriers such as Telstra, Vodafone and Optus will benefit from the new service as it increases data usage while delivering a distinct benefit for smartphone users. It will also eliminate the need for a consumer to buy a second navigation device, a move which analysts are tipping will hurt navigation device makers like Garmin, Navman and TomTom whose shares fell following the announcement.
The application uses voice commands for destinations and was built from the ground up to interface with the Internet.
A Google demonstration for the service, asks users to navigate to a museum with the King Tut exhibit, and because Google Maps for Mobile is connected to the Internet, the phone “knows” there’s a King Tut exhibit at a certain local museum and can direct the user.
The service also delivers real images of street views, and shows “a picture of your destination as you approach the end of your route, so you’ll know exactly what to look for,” said Google.
Among the carriers who will have the service in Australia will be HTC who already sell Google Android based phones, Motorola and Samsung.
Using the new Android phones users will be able to zoom out to see a bird’s-eye satellite view of their route. They will also receive traffic updates along their route.
Maps are updated without fees and phones using the software continue to navigate even if a signal is lost. The cost of the off-board navigation will be included in the Android-phone’s data plan according to Telstra executives who have seen the new service.
Set to be hit by the new service are organisations like TomTom who recently launched a $99 navigation package for the iPhone.
When asked how Google Maps for Mobile will impact TomTom, chief executive Harold Goddijn, said, “We are continuing to build and maintain maps that are very high quality, that meet the requirements of navigation and the automotive industry and we continue to be successful in gaining access to those markets. We can’t comment on what Google is trying to do.”
Google is also talking to Apple about delivering the new service to an iPhone.
The new Google navigation service is also set to impact Telstra’s WhereIs service which yesterday launched a “photo-realistic” GPS service claimed to offer motorists a lifelike view of major highway and road junctions.
The service which is on only available on Garmin GPS models will have to compete with the new Google navigation offering.
WhereIs spokesman Adrian Tout said “The technology an Australian first provides drivers with a photo-realistic representation of their driving environment, a far cry from the generic view commonly featured in map data.
Real View makes approaching tricky spaghetti junctions and high-speed intersections much easier for drivers, assisting the safe anticipation of the correct lane, slipway or branch they need to take.”
The service maps flyovers of most major Australian highway junctions, WhereIs claims. Electronic road signs also guide the driver through tricky intersections.
