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Find your Destination

With GPS on your mobile phone you can enjoy your journeys and stop worrying about losing your way, without recurring subscription fees!

-BY MONALI GAIKWAD


GPS on mobile phones has made travelling a breeze by providing accurate directions, search points and route calculation in a matter of seconds. Now you don’t have to stop at every intersection and ask for directions anymore, or worry about getting lost on your way. We found some GPS mapping applications for your mobile phone which give you fast and accurate directions along with voice commands. What’s more, some of them are completely free!

There are a number of applications available today with features such as point-to-point voice navigation, route simulation, 3D views, alternate driving routes, and so on. Nokia Maps is one of the most well known applications, but its functionalities are limited. Users also need to pay a recurring subscription to use features such as voice navigation, which other apps off er for a one-timeonly registration fee. So, we found some alternative mapping applications for you which are loaded with distinctive features and off er more choice than Nokia Maps does.

MapMyIndia

MapmyIndia iNav Loaded WF is priced at Rs 3,490 and works with any Symbian S60 or UIQ phone from Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Samsung which supports an inbuilt or external GPS receiver. After a one-time payment, you get a fully featured navigation program which you can take anywhere you go. This application takes approximately 200 MB on your phone but can also be installed to its SD card.

All the maps, address and routing information are stored on the card. Hence, it does not require GPRS and you don’t have to worry about losing connectivity while driving. With maps of over 177 cities stored in it, you can have real-time turn-by-turn navigation, route mapping and voice commands while travelling. iNav Loaded gives you information about places like nearby ATMs, restaurants, petrol pumps and other business listings around your location. You can use the point-to-point navigation feature to plan a route from one place to another, which will show you information such as the estimated time it will take to reach your destination and the landmarks you will come across during your journey. You can also transmit your current location to a selected contact using SMS or MMS and keep your loved ones informed about your journey’s progress.

This application tracks your location on the map using GPS and can recalculate the route in case you miss a turn. MapmyIndia also provides navigation software for Windows Mobile phones and a GPRS-enabled application called iNav Connect for all types of mobile phones. For more information on the products and services off ered, check http://www.mapmyindia.com/.
Google Maps

Google Maps is a free application which you can download from http://m.google.com/ and run on your Symbian, Java or Windows phone. It requires GPRS to access map information and it is completely free other than the GPRS usage charges you’ll have to pay your operator. You can plan routes, get directions and even get real-time traffi c information. It does not have voice navigation unlike other mapping applications but it does provide accurate search results. You can determine your current position even if your phone doesn’t support GPS, since Google uses the unique footprint of the nearest cellular towers to triangulate your approximate location.
Google Maps can be called the poor man’s GPS since there is no charge and it also runs on much more aff ordable phones than the high-end GPS-enabled models available. You have the option to search for and dial the nearest business listings and points of interest too. Google Maps has an option called Satellite View using which you can see satellite imagery as well as road maps. It is the most simple, affordable and efficient mapping solution currently available.

SatGuide

SatGuide is an off ering from SatNav Technologies, which is a navigation application complete with voice commands and route calculation in real time. For a Symbian OS phone, you can try the GPS/navigation program Destinator, which is priced at Rs 2,183 (including VAT & shipping charges) and can be purchased from the website http://www.satguide.in/. This application is compatible with select Nokia phones which have inbuilt GPS, such as the N82, N95, 6110, N78, 6210 Navigator, 6220 Classic, E66, and the E51 with an external Bluetooth GPS receiver. The only Samsung model compatible with this application is the SGH-i560. SatGuide has maps of over 25 cities and provides quarterly updates. You can use this application anywhere and you do not need GPRS to access the map information.

Voice navigation is included, along with an option to receive voice instructions in eight different languages. You also get point-to-point search and navigation, the ability to search business listings, and also intra- and inter-city route planning. It also provides alternate routes and gives you real-time voice instructions about your speed and the estimated time to reach the destination while travelling. The maps are optimized for easy understanding, and you can switch between day/night and 2D/3D views to make them more readable.

Microsoft Live Search

Microsoft Live Search Maps is a browser-based mapping solution which was launched quite recently. You don’t have to download any third-party application to use this service. Simply type http://m.live.co.in/ in your phone’s browser and search for any place you want. You can even get directions to a place with alternate routes and precise directions for every turn you need to take. Live Search Maps has maps of nine major cities in India with important monuments and business listings marked on them. You can search for any place by using the street name, landmark or points of interest and Live Search Maps will give you an accurate result. It also gives you inter and intra-city driving directions in detail with landmarks and directions inside the cities as well. It does not have voice commands but it certainly is a great option and a very flexible solution for finding any place you want.
Wth all these alternatives to Nokia maps available, you can certainly reconsider paying for those “extra” services like voice commands. Each application off ers a lot more than voice commands too, and with no recurring fees you can simply enjoy your journey, because you’ll never get lost again.
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