Google owns us all -- Free Google Maps Navigation

[coxmaster]

What happens when the GPS system fails in 2010? Google cant save it..

 

[Miramonti]

This is more of a threat to market share of the iphone imo than Tommy and Garmin.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Well you know Garmin already runs on S60 and WinMo devices? And BB too? So all those people thought iPhone is OMG with TomTom, but my S60 phone has been giving me the same quality of navigation my Garmin 265WT has...

 

[Gooberlx2]

Originally posted by: coxmaster
What happens when the GPS system fails in 2010? Google cant save it..

Are they actually using GPS anyway, or Cell tower triangulation?

If the latter, then such a system really wouldn't work for me anyway because cell reception in the mountains and Wyoming sucks as a rule....and that includes Verizon's network.

However, it wouldn't be surprising if we saw little GPS shells being put out that you could load android on to and thus the desired apps.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: geno

Originally posted by: vi edit
Um yeah, I'll take the nice big touch screen of my Garmin over a cell phone for in car navigation any day, thank you.

I bet you won't carry your Garmin in your pocket any day

Plus what happens when you are in BFE no where and your cell coverage isn't available? Unless I'm in a tunnel i'm pretty much guaranteed that GPS is going to work.

GPS is GPS...Navigation on phones runs off of a GPS receiver, not cell reception.

i don't drive a random car "anyday".

anyways until data plans and smart phones start to get reasonable the gps manufacturers can't be worried.

 

[rh71]

looking for simple map software that doesn't require a connection, for windows mobile.

 

[Drekce]

I already posted my 2G iPhone on CL. I want a Droid next Friday!

 

[Gothgar]

Google, slowly taking over the world.... quickly I mean quickly

 

[Deeko]

Originally posted by: bignateyk

Originally posted by: geno

Originally posted by: vi edit
Um yeah, I'll take the nice big touch screen of my Garmin over a cell phone for in car navigation any day, thank you.

I bet you won't carry your Garmin in your pocket any day

Plus what happens when you are in BFE no where and your cell coverage isn't available? Unless I'm in a tunnel i'm pretty much guaranteed that GPS is going to work.

GPS is GPS...Navigation on phones runs off of a GPS receiver, not cell reception.

Most phones have cell assisted GPS rather than true gps, which makes GPS not work unless you have a cell signal. This is true on the iphone, not sure about android phones.

Most cell phones have a combination of real GPS and A-GPS. A-GPS is lower power and faster, whereas satellite GPS is more accurate. Today's phones will use a combination of both - A-GPS to get an estimate, real GPS to get the exact location.

I was under the impression this was the case with the iPhone as well. If not, wow, the iPhone really is garbage.

 

[geno]

Originally posted by: vi edit

Originally posted by: geno

Originally posted by: vi edit
Um yeah, I'll take the nice big touch screen of my Garmin over a cell phone for in car navigation any day, thank you.

I bet you won't carry your Garmin in your pocket any day

Plus what happens when you are in BFE no where and your cell coverage isn't available? Unless I'm in a tunnel i'm pretty much guaranteed that GPS is going to work.

GPS is GPS...Navigation on phones runs off of a GPS receiver, not cell reception.

But if it relies on the data feed from google then it needs cell reception, no?

For the streets and such...correct, I forgot about 50% of the equation Whoops.

 

[dullard]

Yep, one more reason that I'm getting a Droid this year. My contract is up mid-Dec and I'll probably wait until then. But it'll be quite wonderful to replace this piece of crap I'm on now.

Prices were announced today. $299 for the Droid, with a $100 rebate (in the form of a debit card unfortunately), total $199. The $70/month ($40 for the smallest Verison package + $30 for data) + taxes will be tough to swallow though compared to my current $36/month + taxes plan.

 

[Wonderful Pork]

Originally posted by: Deeko

Originally posted by: bignateyk

Originally posted by: geno

Originally posted by: vi edit
Um yeah, I'll take the nice big touch screen of my Garmin over a cell phone for in car navigation any day, thank you.

I bet you won't carry your Garmin in your pocket any day

Plus what happens when you are in BFE no where and your cell coverage isn't available? Unless I'm in a tunnel i'm pretty much guaranteed that GPS is going to work.

GPS is GPS...Navigation on phones runs off of a GPS receiver, not cell reception.

Most phones have cell assisted GPS rather than true gps, which makes GPS not work unless you have a cell signal. This is true on the iphone, not sure about android phones.

Most cell phones have a combination of real GPS and A-GPS. A-GPS is lower power and faster, whereas satellite GPS is more accurate. Today's phones will use a combination of both - A-GPS to get an estimate, real GPS to get the exact location.

I was under the impression this was the case with the iPhone as well. If not, wow, the iPhone really is garbage.

No, the iPhone has GPS and A-GPS.

 

[Pliablemoose]

I sort of like my stand alone gps

I do use my G1 & google maps in a pinch. Was recently stuck in the hollywood hills and the app couldn't get a lock, it was a real pita

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: jonny13
I honestly don't see this threatening Garmin or Tom Tom, at least until it can be untethered from the web. I currently use Google Maps on a Blackberry, but once you get out of the large metro areas, it's worthless when your connections get weaker. That might not be an issue on the Coasts, but there are large areas of weak cell reception in the middle of the US and web based GPS apps make good paper weights there.

Luckily, there's nothing to see there and you'll simply be following the Interstate.

 

[ultimatebob]

Originally posted by: SunnyD

Originally posted by: jonny13

Originally posted by: NFS4

Originally posted by: jonny13
I honestly don't see this threatening Garmin or Tom Tom, at least until it can be untethered from the web. I currently use Google Maps on a Blackberry, but once you get out of the large metro areas, it's worthless when your connections get weaker. That might not be an issue on the Coasts, but there are large areas of weak cell reception in the middle of the US and web based GPS apps make good paper weights there.

Maps cache along your intended route, so even if your connection dies along the way the route will still show you what you need to see, and text-to-speech voice synthesis of street names still works, too.

Ooops, missed that part. I stand corrected, Google will own this market soon.

But if you stray from your intended route, you're fucked. I don't see this as a replacement for a stand-alone GPS product, considering you basically need a constant connection to make it 100% functional. That connection means a cell phone subscription - so much for it being free.

I'd also want to know what would happen if you tried getting directions from a bad coverage area (like a state forest) to your destination. Is there a national base map with major highways built into this app to get you out of jams like this?

That's one of the things that I like about my Garmin... I once got lost in the middle of Olympic National Forest, and needed to rely on it to get me outta there because I had no detailed paper maps or cell reception out there.

 

[TheVrolok]

Originally posted by: jonny13

Originally posted by: NFS4

Originally posted by: jonny13
I honestly don't see this threatening Garmin or Tom Tom, at least until it can be untethered from the web. I currently use Google Maps on a Blackberry, but once you get out of the large metro areas, it's worthless when your connections get weaker. That might not be an issue on the Coasts, but there are large areas of weak cell reception in the middle of the US and web based GPS apps make good paper weights there.

Maps cache along your intended route, so even if your connection dies along the way the route will still show you what you need to see, and text-to-speech voice synthesis of street names still works, too.

Ooops, missed that part. I stand corrected, Google will own this market soon.

Well, unless you get to your destination and then don't have very good service there. May not be able to get additional directions around that area, or back home. Say you're traveling out to a more remote location.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Originally posted by: Wonderful Pork

Originally posted by: Deeko

Originally posted by: bignateyk

Originally posted by: geno

Originally posted by: vi edit
Um yeah, I'll take the nice big touch screen of my Garmin over a cell phone for in car navigation any day, thank you.

I bet you won't carry your Garmin in your pocket any day

Plus what happens when you are in BFE no where and your cell coverage isn't available? Unless I'm in a tunnel i'm pretty much guaranteed that GPS is going to work.

GPS is GPS...Navigation on phones runs off of a GPS receiver, not cell reception.

Most phones have cell assisted GPS rather than true gps, which makes GPS not work unless you have a cell signal. This is true on the iphone, not sure about android phones.

Most cell phones have a combination of real GPS and A-GPS. A-GPS is lower power and faster, whereas satellite GPS is more accurate. Today's phones will use a combination of both - A-GPS to get an estimate, real GPS to get the exact location.

I was under the impression this was the case with the iPhone as well. If not, wow, the iPhone really is garbage.

No, the iPhone has GPS and A-GPS.

A-GPS is a combination of a GPS unit along with cell tower triangulation. Using cell tower triangulation is simply a network feature and you're not paying for a chip in your phone. Google Maps had the ability to use cell tower info long time ago. Back in 2007 or something my Sony Ericcsson phone could do it. It had no GPS....

If a phone says it has GPS this means it has a true GPS 99% of the time. I have yet to see a phone advertise GPS capabilities without true GPS. It's just that the GPS receiver is weak as shit in many phones (look at the N97). You need A-GPS as well to speed up your experience. I've gone with GPS only on my N82 and it takes a while in cities under cloudy conditions. With A-GPS on it's very fast especially if its not a cold lock.

The iPhone 3G and later had a true GPS. The iPhone 2G has nothing. Google Maps' ability to use cell tower info isn't really phone dependent.

 

[olds]

Originally posted by: jonny13
I honestly don't see this threatening Garmin or Tom Tom, at least until it can be untethered from the web. I currently use Google Maps on a Blackberry, but once you get out of the large metro areas, it's worthless when your connections get weaker. That might not be an issue on the Coasts, but there are large areas of weak cell reception in the middle of the US and web based GPS apps make good paper weights there.

I concur. I also don't want to use a tiny, gay ass phone screen if I want to see the display, find restaurants, etc.

 

[ultimatebob]

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat

Originally posted by: jonny13
I honestly don't see this threatening Garmin or Tom Tom, at least until it can be untethered from the web. I currently use Google Maps on a Blackberry, but once you get out of the large metro areas, it's worthless when your connections get weaker. That might not be an issue on the Coasts, but there are large areas of weak cell reception in the middle of the US and web based GPS apps make good paper weights there.

I concur. I also don't want to use a tiny, gay ass phone screen if I want to see the display, find restaurants, etc.

Amusingly, the screen on my iPhone is bigger than the screen on my first GPS (StreetPilot i3). The StreetPilot was a much better GPS, though, because of Google Maps on the iPhone was intentionally crippled by Apple.

 

[secretanchitman]

damn, i hope they will port this to all the other platforms (iphone, webos, windows mobile, blackberry, and whatever nokia will use).

i feel so bad for tomtom and garmin...wonder what will happen to them?

 

[lokiju]

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat

Originally posted by: jonny13
I honestly don't see this threatening Garmin or Tom Tom, at least until it can be untethered from the web. I currently use Google Maps on a Blackberry, but once you get out of the large metro areas, it's worthless when your connections get weaker. That might not be an issue on the Coasts, but there are large areas of weak cell reception in the middle of the US and web based GPS apps make good paper weights there.

I concur. I also don't want to use a tiny, gay ass phone screen if I want to see the display, find restaurants, etc.

I think everyone's missing the reason it's such a threat.

Google is now their own seller of mapping data, just like Tom Tom and just like Navteq.

This is data that is being given away to consumers in the form of the Google Navigation app and has the potential to change the whole dynamic of who's the big dog on top when it comes to selling their mapping data to others to use as well.

 

[olds]

Originally posted by: lokiju

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat

Originally posted by: jonny13
I honestly don't see this threatening Garmin or Tom Tom, at least until it can be untethered from the web. I currently use Google Maps on a Blackberry, but once you get out of the large metro areas, it's worthless when your connections get weaker. That might not be an issue on the Coasts, but there are large areas of weak cell reception in the middle of the US and web based GPS apps make good paper weights there.

I concur. I also don't want to use a tiny, gay ass phone screen if I want to see the display, find restaurants, etc.

I think everyone's missing the reason it's such a threat.

Google is now their own seller of mapping data, just like Tom Tom and just like Navteq.

This is data that is being given away to consumers in the form of the Google Navigation app and has the potential to change the whole dynamic of who's the big dog on top when it comes to selling their mapping data to others to use as well.

I don't care who's top dog. Just give me a product that I can use.