Today is a good great day thanks to the launch of Google Maps Navigation beta for Australia & New Zealand this morning. No doubt car cradle accessories are going to be the hot item leading up to Christmas as people may replace their aging GPS with their Android Mobile, that is if your device is running above Android 1.6 (Donut) which leaves some big names out of the fun.
If you’ve used GMV already this morning, tell us how you went. Would you replace your GPS with your phone?
Also, if you’re after a car cradle/holder: MobiCity, HTCAccessories & eBay
Works great on Galaxy S. Fairly accurate. Mr Google, can we now also have a speed limit warning feature?
Used it a couple of days ago. Voice guidance works really well, it gives enough notice to upcoming turns. Two intersections that have recently been converted from roundabout to traffic lights were marked as roundabouts, and it did send me off StKilda road and back on where I could have kept going straight. Reacted really quickly when I deliberately ignored it’s instructions, gave me new directions within a few seconds. Would help if it could be set to always avoid toll roads, have to manually select it each time. Altogether a great innovation, makes android even better than before. Thanks… Read more »
Uninstalled brut maps yesterday and liking google navigation ! My car dock arrives tomorrow and I can’t wait
Thanks for the tip Buzz. I have checked and used it now and find it pretty good. Basic, but good. Where it lacks a few things that stand alone units may have, it makes up for by far in the ability to use Street View and look around the point you are searching for (or going to) so in unfamiliar territory, you can have a fair idea of landmarks before you get there. Excellent.
Ten more points for Google Aust !! 🙂
Is it really ‘free’ to use? Or do you still have to pay for your connection to the internet while in use?
Tried it out last night and it worked well except it took the longer route and kept directing me to that route after I went my usual route.
Interface is very good. Shown useful information on screen, and spoke every street name (unfortunately, in a terrible machine voice).
I don’t know how to make Street View works as turn by turn navigation.
6 out of 10
Tried it out tonight and was pretty impressed with it. Doesn’t seem to like suggesting U-turns though… took me the long way around a suburban block when I deliberately went off course to test its rerouting speed. Speaking of which it reroutes at least as fast, if not faster, than a Navig8r unit I used to have. Would still prefer an offline solution for times when one is out of mobile data coverage / roaming, and wouldn’t have considered this a viable option but what with Telstra giving certain plan users a free GB of data per month, am happy… Read more »
worked well for me today in the Toowoomba region. my only issue for day to day use over my TomTom is that I will frequently go out of range for mobile broadband and the application ceases to be useful. however, when you are able to ensure connectivity during your trips it is superior to the TomTom I have been using the last few years. More accurate maps. Re-routing changes occur quickly and not after I have driven past the new route turnoff. Current locations of interest. Not the generally outdated data TomTom ships with it’s paid updates. Is aware of… Read more »
Works pretty well…not as well as Wisepilot on the X10, but hey, it’s free!!
Yeah, if it doesn’t work for you uninstall the updates and install again… Works likes charm now!
Interestingly, for my wife’s Desire, it still says “Not available in your location?” Upgraded to 4.7 yesterday too… might try to uninstall and see what happens…
Big step for android in Australia, now we can have another advantage to show iPhone users, want a turn by turn navigation software? Pay some money to TOMTOM and Steve jobs 😀
Tried it this morning to get to work. Samsung Galaxy S from Optus. At first it chose a route that actually was a longer way around than the one I’d normally take. I suppose it picked that route because of the faster speed limits but it’s not smart enough to know that road would be congested during peak hours. It recalculated the route whilst I drove and again, picked a route that allowed the fastest speed limit. I normally take a route that involves me driving through a series of speed bumps for 400m at 30km/h. It automatically chose a… Read more »
Are you sure this was TomTom on E71 and not the Nokia Ovi Maps?
The Nokia Ovi maps, once they were released for free, became a killer app for me – can pre-download maps, speaks and routes just like a regular GPS. Was perfect.
Definetly more polished than brut though I don’t know if I can let go of cached maps.
thanks Buzz Moody
No problems 🙂
founded..sorry
Hi all, new here…I have downloaded Google Maps V4.7 but can’t find any navigation icons..or anything that puts me in the right direction!
Can someone please put a link on here or let me know where I can download it..
Thanks
In the applications launcher there should be a blue navigation icon. Hit that.
Looks good. Forgot to try it this morning. Will do tonight.
I have been using a hacked Maps app that enabled the navigation for a while and it has always worked well. I have now deleted that version. I’m keen ot see if the aussie version fixes some of the US centric stuff in the hacked version (diagrams of roundabout showing driving on the right hand side, calling them some other weird US name instead of roundabouts).
I was wondering to myself why they hadn;t launched a AU version until I was using it and noticed all the US centric things that would need updating.
I’ve used it to get to work and it chose the same directions I normally choose. So far I’m impressed!
I gave it a go this morning – overall a pretty good experience for a new feature that just came ‘free’ 🙂 Definitely plenty of advantages over a dedicated device if you ask me. I’ve written up my experience here: http://blog.craigharvey.me/index.php/2010/11/17/google-maps-navigation-beta-hits-australia/
Don’t have a GPS system so yes it will. Have been using the Brut app in the past and this is just like night and day! Brut seemed to read the Gmaps directions (like I used to print out) but Gmaps on the phone gives more warning and even what the move after the next move is, like turn left here and then next turn is a right.