Google Navigation app for Android: A GPS killer?

Previous navigation applications for smart phones have usually fallen short when compared to dedicated navigation units. But the new Google Maps Navigation program for Android 2.0 that's just been announced is worth watching as a possible game changer.

Why? Because Google has lots of experience working with data-intensive map applications and has built both web and mobile applications that work when the user is online or off. Even more importantly, the Google Maps Navigation app will be free to own and use on any Android 2.0 phone–such as Verizon's soon-
to-be-released Motorola Droid. (Note: We recently acquired a
Droid from Verizon and will be testing and reporting on it here in this blog soon.)

Google Maps Navigation for Android 2.0 includes all the features you expect from stand-alone portable GPS units, including turn-by-turn voice guidance, automatic rerouting and visually appealing 3-D views. But, it's also designed to take advantage of your phone's Internet connection. According to Google, the app will have:

1. Constantly updated maps and business information from Google's database.
2. Voice recognition, so you can search by just speaking.
3. A traffic view from Google's live traffic feed.
4. Data for gas stations and other points of interests that can be layered on a route map, allowing users to find what they need without straying from their original route.
5. A satellite view that, according to Google, may help users see upcoming complicated maneuvers more clearly.
6. Street eye-level views for many roads allows you to see exactly what your next turn looks like in the real world.

Gizmodo is reporting that Google has indicated the application will be available for other platforms eventually, including the iPhone. We'll share our own hands-on experiences with it soon. –Dirk Klingner

Comments

[Paul Eng]

Hi Tony,

GPS, or Global Positioning System, is actually a two-part system. One part is the constellation of 24 to 32 space-based satellites which broadcasts a special time signal. The other part is the GPS signals receiver -- a portable hand-held unit such as a Garmin Nuvi or a Magellan Roadmate or an Apple iPhone 3G or a Motorola Android.

You need both parts in order to figure out where you are on this planet and how to navigate to where you want to go.

So, technically, you are absolutely correct. Google Maps Navigation will not kill GPS -- the SATELLITE portion -- because it requires those exact same space-based signals as other hand-held GPS units.

However, the "features you'd expect from GPS" -- the turn-by-turn navigation, automated re-routing, animated maps with 3-D views, etc. -- is NOT a function of the satellite signals themselves, but of the hardware and software within the GPS receiver!

That's probably why most consumers would usually associate the term "GPS" with JUST the receiver-side of the equation. After all, we interact directly with the hand-held devices, NOT the satellites!

In short, that's why we highlighted the Google Maps Navigation app for Android 2.0 smartphones (such as the Motorola Droid).

It offers the same capabilities as, say, a Garmin Nuvi.

But because it's a free SOFTWARE app that will run on ANY powerful smartphone (such as the Motorola Droid) with Android 2.0 software, Google Maps Navigation (in conjunction with wireless Net access) has the ability to offer features that GPS-makers haven't yet been able to fully meet satisfactorily.

For example, see our review of the Garmin NuviPhone, the GPS device maker's attempt at combining its GPS functions into a touch-screen cellphone:

http://blogs.consumerreports.org/cars/2009/10/future-next-garmin-nuvifone-the-road-it-should-travel.html)

And take a look at our initial impressions of the Motorola Droid smartphone running Android and the Google Maps Navigation app:

http://blogs.consumerreports.org/electronics/2009/10/verizon-motorola-droid-review-andoid-google-smart-cell-phone-first-impression-app-store-touch-screen-qwerty-keyboard-camera-.html

--Paul Eng
Web Senior Editor, Electronics

[Tony]

I'm pretty sure that the Google product in question actually uses GPS. Which would explain why it has all the features you'd expect from GPS, but also makes it unlikely in the extreme that it would ever contribute to the death of GPS.