Google Maps Navigation for the Nexus One

Jan 25, 2010 · 3 comments

in general,mobile

One of the main features that interested me in the Nexus One was turn-by-turn voice-guided navigation.

Almost all the features in the Nexus One have some level of voice support, and the navigation is no different. You can say things like “navigate to wagon wheel skate center” and it will guide you there. Obviously, it hooks into Google Maps, so there is no need to worry about purchasing updated maps for your car’s GPS. (You need only to be concerned with Internet access). It can also tap into traffic updates, letting you know if a particular route is congested, and suggest alternatives.

Yup: en route you can modify your path based on live traffic updates to determine which will be the quickest route.

For those who’ve been spoiled with a library of voices for their in-car GPS, the standard voice provided may be a bit disappointing. I also was quite surprised the system hadn’t learned that “Ft” on a highway sign should be pronounced “Fort” rather than “phht”. Overall, however, I was content enough with the service to claim that I really had little need for a different GPS device for my vehicle.

Google Maps Navigation is still in beta, but it is available for the latest Android phones.

Related posts:

  1. Nexus Gone
  2. Why I Switched from an iPhone to the Nexus One
  3. Trying out Google Voice
  4. 6 Reasons Your Organization Needs Google Voice
  5. Google vs Microsoft: the Operating System Wars

{ 3 comments }

1 eric diaz Feb 1, 2010 at 6:44 am

That is exciting stuff. Makes my 2006 Garmin seem kind of outdated! I think they want to sell Garmin updates for around $70, but I would never buy one. I cant wait till they make this app for the iPhone!

2 Andrea Hill Feb 1, 2010 at 10:33 pm

Eric: I hope they can make it available for the iPhone. The biggest challenge I see is that turn-by-turn navigation works really well “in the background”. With the iPhone only supporting one app running at a time, you’re really sucking a lot of power for this one function to be dedicated.
Andrea Hill´s last blog post ..Notifications: Nexus One 1, iPhone 3G 0

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3 Leo Feb 15, 2011 at 10:04 am

My problem is that I am paranoid with the information I give let Google have (because they already know A LOT about what I do online, I don’t want them to know where I am and what I do when I am not. That’s why it no foursquare, no android phone and certainly no open-to-all Facebook profile!

ps. the video does look good though!
Leo´s last blog post ..Remove Google Maps InfoWindow scrollbars when it only contains an image

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