Google today added a fully featured GPS satellite navigation service to its Google Maps application for mobile phones running its Android operating system.
The new service, for the UK and Ireland, follows a similar launch in the United States last year. The new Google Maps Navigation brings all of the firm's mapping services together, including the controversial Street View, and features full voice guidance.
The service also offers voice control, allowing users to bypass the often tedious step of inputting an address or postcode by simply saying where they want to go.
Speaking at the launch this morning, Steve Lee, Google’s Group Product Manager for Mobile Maps, said that mobile map use is growing with the spread of smartphones and cheaper data contracts. He said that 50 million people now use Google Maps on their mobile phones every day. Google’s new service, like many of the company’s products, is based in “the cloud”. No maps are installed on a user’s device; instead, the Android phone accesses Google’s vast banks of online data, enabling updates such as traffic information to be delivered in real time.
“The advantage that gives us,” Mr Lee said, “is that we have access to the whole of Google search. Even if you don’t know the name ofthe place you are going, we can still find it.” A voice search of “navigate to Rosetta Stone” quickly offered the British Museum’s address.
Google’s move into fully fledged satellite navigation also has wider significance, since it marks another field - after mobile phones - where the company is entering a market already occupied by highly profitable companies such as TomTom, and undermining their business model by making previously paid-for information or technology freely available.
However, TomTom denied that Google’s satnav solution would damage its market. A spokeswoman said: “This is a different type of device for a different type of consumer. The Google Maps service has been available in North America for some time and we have noticed no impact on our business. In a way, it’s like digital cameras. Most phones have them built in, yet people still buy separate cameras for their dedicated functionality.”
Although the new Google system is currently only available for Google’s Android platform, Mr Lee said that development for other platforms, such as BlackBerry and iPhone, will almost certainly take place.
The system’s main weakness, he acknowledged, is that motorists using their Google Maps satnav in Europe will be forced to pay data roaming charges. He suggested that users on holiday download a route using wireless broadband internet before setting out, and then turn off data roaming to avoid racking up a huge bill.
