One of the major disappointments of the iPhone 3G and its GPS was the inability to replace your existing GPS navigation unit.
Sure you won't get lost with your iPhone, however there was no way to have it working like you TomTom or Garmin units with turn-by-turn directions.
This has mostly to do with the terms of use of Google Maps that explicitely prohibit this kind of use (most likely so they don't get sued should someone get lost because they lost Internet connection.)
People knew Telenav was already working on this, and even TomTom has rumoured to have their software running on the iPhone... however, it seems they'll both be beaten to market by XRoad which is about to launch their G-Map for the iPhone this month. (Keep your eyes open in the App Store.)
The maps are downloaded from the Internet and stored in your iPhone, meaning you won't require any kind of Internet connection to navigate wherever you please.
Now...I just wonder how much longer it will take for the other companies to jump into the bandwagon and start launching their GPS navigation Apps.
Are you sure this is a turn by turn navigation application? It looks like a robust mapping only application.
ReplyDeleteWell, there are some others that announced it like that.
ReplyDeleteFrom the detailed traffic intersection pics, it does seem like a full fledged GPS navigation program; and with the stored maps, there would be no point in not implementing a simple feature like that.
(The iPhone could very well have it in Google Maps, just proceeding to the next "step" once we got there, instead of doing it manually.)
But... lets wait to see if it really does that; I hope I didn't misinterpreted it.
Or at the very least, I hope it reminds other developers people are still waiting for this...