 More navigation
features coming
Theo Boshoff
People using their iPhone to also do the navigation and GPS thing will be delighted to hear that Navigon has just released an upgrade for the iPhone application – MobileNavigator, which sports three new and exciting functions.
The application now allows users to connect to Facebook and Twitter directly, enabling more functions like geotagging and positioning to be more easily shared with friends, family and work colleagues, without having to do separate log-ins and interrupting the navigation. You can also send people information on your estimated time of arrival – ETA for short.
Also new is Panorama View 3D, with 3D terrain views powered by data from those spy in the sky guys, NASA. The terrain and image data are also available within the map software and is independent from the phone’s data connection.
The third update is the availability of personalised route delivery, enabled by Navigon’s MyRoutes, which is an intelligent direction provider, according to the company. This feature works by gathering and analysing your individual driving data and then comes up with customised routes, which will basically better suit the user.
The upgraded application will be available for $79.99 from the Apple App Store through iTunes, sporting maps of South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland supplied by Navteq. If users already have previous versions of the app bought through the Apple Apps Store, the upgrade should be free, says Stephan Balte, Navigon country manager for South Africa,.
To get the Panorama View 3D feature will, however, cost an additional $9.99.
According to Balte, the upgraded application has been handed to Apple to put up on the store, but it is not yet known when exactly it will be available online from the store.
We are told that MobileNavigator works with the iPhone 3G and 3GS as well as the first generation iPhone and iPod Touch, but that you would need extra GPS accessories to make full use of the application’s abilities for the last two.
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