Migrating to
Android smartphones has virtually changed my life in many aspects. One of them
is complete abandonment of my Garmin GPS. Why bother having multiple gadgets in
your car, when you have one, capable to perform multiple tasks simultaneously.
Today, we will discuss the free applications on Droid platform, which are
available on Google Play market to fill the need not to get lost.
Google Maps Navigation
Google Maps
Navigation is an internet-connected GPS navigation system with voice guidance,
which is installed by default on all modern Android phones. For a long time, it
was my first choice. Actually, it was the only choice, since it worked
smoothly, and there was no reason to look for alternatives.
Main Features
- Search in plain English. No need to know the address. You can type a
business name or even a kind of a business, just like you would on Google.
- Search by voice. Speak your destination instead of typing (English
only): "Navigate to the de Young Museum in San Francisco".
- Traffic view. An indicator glows green, yellow, or red based on
the current traffic along your route. Touch it to see traffic ahead of
you.
- Search along route. Search for any kind of business along your route,
or turn on popular layers such as gas stations, restaurants, or parking.
- Satellite view. View your route overlaid on 3D satellite views
with Google's high-resolution aerial imagery.
- Street View. Visualize turns with Street View imagery.
Navigation automatically switches to Street View as you approach your
destination.
- Car dock mode. Car dock mode makes it easy to use your device at
arm's length (Android 2.0 devices or higher).
- Navigation shortcut. Select the Navigation icon from the launcher to
start quickly; pick a destination by search (speak or type), contacts,
starred items, or recent destinations.
- Walking Navigation (Beta). Get voice-guided navigation for walking
directions. Device vibrates for turn notifications.
- Transit Navigation (Beta). Get navigation for public transit directions in
400 cities around the globe. Device shows location along transit route and
provides alerts for when to stay on or exit public transit.
- Offline reliability. Get continuous guidance and automatic rerouting,
even if you lose your network connection after you’ve begun a route.
Screenshots:
PROs:
- Integrated Google Maps are highly reliable and have
relatively few errors.
- Google Street View is useful to recognize the target
destination.
CONs:
- Navigation
is still dependent on your data connection as opposed to being preloaded
(though it does cache your route), which is translated to inability to
start navigation from the point where there is no connection.
- Live
traffic is not exactly live, and the data occasionally outdated.
- GPS voice
is kind of too robotic.
- Estimated
arrival is on the bottom of the screen (subjective drawback due to my
phone location on the car dashboard).
MapQuest
The free mobile
navigation utility developed by the company, which is on the Navigation
business for long, and there are many Internet users, who are familiar with the
main features from the Desktop application. Deeming the standard Google
Navigation as reference point, we will provide the features, which look
slightly different. So, we will not mention the matching features, like
turn-to-turn navigation.
- Place
Map Toolbar. Look for restaurants, coffee
shops, gas stations, etc. with one 1-click.
- Auto
Re-route. If you take a wrong turn, it will
your route will be automatically adjusted your route to get you to your
destination.
- Live
Traffic Flow/Incidents. Extensive
coverage that’s updated every 5 minutes, to help – to keep you on time.
- Save any
location as a Favorite from the Details screen for easy access later.
- Touch-points.
Long-press anywhere on the map to get a point you can route to.
- OpenStreetMap (OSM)
Map Setting. User-sourced maps can provide
unique local perspective and detail.
- Bug
Logging for OSM. Standing in front of a new
building? Report it to the community and they’ll fill in the missing
pieces.
I just started to use the application, and it seems
to be quality built, fast, and accurate. Some users report that it loads faster
and works better, than Google Navigation, and other claim the opposite. Try it
and decide for yourself.
Screenshot:
Waze
Waze is not strictly a navigation program; it is
more than a navigation program. It represents a combination of the voice
navigated turn-to-turn navigation with mobile social network. You can plug into
the driving community in your area, joining forces with other drivers nearby to
outsmart traffic, save time & gas $, and improve everyone's daily commute.
- Real-time
traffic. Community generated real-time
traffic and road alerts including accidents, hazards, police traps, and
more.
- Auto
Re-route. Automatic re-routing as conditions
on the road change.
- Self-learning.
Learns your frequent destinations, commuting hours and preferred routes.
- Warnings.
Convenient warnings on the police speed traps, accidents, traffic jams,
and hazards, generated by fellow ahead of you on the road.
- Find the
cheapest gas station on your route.
- Redeem
Wazer-only gas specials at participating gas stations. (currently in the
US only)
- Meet-up!
Share your location/destination and ETA to easily meet up with friends.
- Join or
create groups to share info about your commute.
- Earn points
and move up the ranks in your community as you contribute road info.
PROs:
- Life
traffic update depends on the route popularity. If there are many Waze members
in the area you drive, the instructions might be more accurate than Google
Navigation.
- Police, red
light cameras, and traffic hazards warnings are quite handy.
- It is like
a fun game, you see your fellows Wazers nearby on the road.
CONs:
- Maps are
not so accurate as in Google Navigation.
- Some people
around trying to chat may be distracting to the driver.
Lately, in more occasions, I personally prefer using
Waze over the Google Navigation, so if you never tried it, it is recommended at
least to try.
There are obviously more utilities for GPS
navigation on the market, but we will limit our review by these three. Each one of them can be considered as really good and useful. Enjoy!
