G-Map Introduces Routing Solution for American iPhone Owners

bedbug

XRoad appear in the process of introducing a new alternative to Google Maps for (some) American iPhone owners, called G-Map, providing some of the turn-by-turn functionality much desired.

As detailed on their website, Here:

bedbug · Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2008 12:47 am Post subject:

Apparently we're to expect G-Map before Xmas...

Mind you, without voice prompts, on-screen routing sounds like the more dangerous option - which surely Apple's SDK Ts & Cs were most designed to prevent.

vlak · Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 8:43 pm Post subject:

G-Map is now available on the iTunes AppStore (US) (link) for $19.99.
Area covered with this release is US West only.

• G-Map for Europe will be available within Q1 2009.

Cool

_________________
Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want.

jbn · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jun 19, 2006 Posts: 10

I bought G-Map US East yesterday in advance of a trip to Maryland / Washington DC in the next few days. £12.99 is a better prospect than paying massive roaming charges to use Maps.

First impressions:
1) Installation required a couple of reboots before it was on the phone. For installation I needed to increase free space from about 900MB to 1.5GB by dropping a movie (since replaced without any problems). It may not have helped that I was simultaneously testing my Belkin charge cable for syncing in the place of my Apple cable. (The Apple cable seems to work a little better, with the Belkin I eventually got a USB Device Not Recognised error.)

2) The application starts quickly and smoothly; I have seen comments elsewhere about how swiftly the GPS location is displayed but I cannot test that yet, and anyway that is more a feature of the iPhone hardware than this application.

3) A random check of a few favourite POIs was all ok - everything I expected was listed, and searching the POI database is fairly quick and easy. Currently it is possible only to search by type - once you have chosen a type there is no subquery based on the name. I cannot imagine why such a feature could not be offered in a future release.

4) You can set your current location to be other than the GPS (default) but the application is geared more towards routing than pure mapping. I say this because in order to display a map around an area you have to use the routing menu to select your POI, location or whatever that you wish to set as origin, rather than this being directly accessible from the View Map screen. Again, more of a menu design query rather than a functionality issue, the facility to do it is there.

5) Routing works exactly like Maps - you are at the centre of the screen (North up) and tracking a highlighted path. I have read that rerouting works in this app but again I cannot test this yet.

I will try to update this after I have had a chance to road test it, but so far in its own way it is looking to be just as useful as Maps but without roaming charges.

jbn · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jun 19, 2006 Posts: 10

Had a chance to try it out for a couple of days, here are my conclusions:

Rerouting works and relatively quickly too, just like original route calculations. Probably just as well, as the GPS lock occasionally wandered for example on freeway exits. I think this may be a feature of the way it does or does not lock to road and thus may be correctable in the application, rather than any inherent error in the GPS location. Either way, once the location was unambiguous the route was restored, and the variation was only momentary.

Routes were identical to those from my satnav.

Local POI listings were adequate rather than fully comprehensive, but I am getting spoiled by using Maps at home. There was one occasion where I did use Maps as no satnav would have contained the listing that I needed.

Altogether I am very satisfied with the application; I'll be looking forward to the European version.

gregh · Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 10:37 am Post subject:

Does it really have no voice prompts at turn locations??

Surely that means at tricky junctions you need to keep your eyes on the iPhone, which, IMHO, defeats the object of having a navigation system in car!

regards,

Greg

jbn · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jun 19, 2006 Posts: 10

Greg, the point is that Apple will not (yet) allow anyone to publish turn by turn navigation applications for the iPhone. This topic is debated exhaustively on iPhone-related forums, and the general conclusion is that Apple are preserving exclusivity for preferred partner(s). TomTom have often been mentioned in this regard, but I know only what I read.

G-Map is already fairly groundbreaking in using knowledge of which road you are on, for example in providing dynamic rerouting. This is not something iPhone users otherwise enjoy, as the standard Maps application overlays a route and moving dot without knowledge of the underlying roads.

Hope this clarifies!

Poscript: new version of G-Map is now out, and includes 3D view, travel up as opposed to North up, and some other bits and pieces.

MaFt · Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 11:06 am Post subject:

the screenshots in the app store do look pretty swish, but still no EU coverage and i'm not convinced on it's usefulness without voice prompts...! perhaps they have voice prompts all ready and done awaiting eagerly for if apple ever allow it! foot in the door and all that...

MaFt

gregh · Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 11:19 am Post subject:

jbn · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jun 19, 2006 Posts: 10

That's about the size of it. All I can say is that given the relative effectiveness of navigating using Maps, G-Map is a good step forward and has value, especially given the price. I look forward to European cover and will be interested to see how they price it compared with the US maps. Too much money and it simply won't be viable against active navigation software and products. If I could get Western Europe for the same price as the East or West US then I would be happy, while waiting for a complete turn by turn active navigation solution to be approved by Apple.

MaFt · Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 1:51 pm Post subject:

	PocketGPS
	Web