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Turn-by-Turn GPS Apps Begin to Appear: Gokivo, Sygic, Navigon

Monday June 22, 2009 10:26 am PDT by Eric Slivka
With the launch of iPhone OS 3.0 last week, many users have been looking forward to the release of turn-by-turn GPS navigation apps. While TomTom for iPhone garnered the most publicity due to its demo as part of the keynote presentation at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference earlier this month, several other companies have been developing similar apps and rushing to bring them to the App Store.

Last week, Gokivo + Yahoo! Local Search [App Store, $0.99 plus $9.99/month subscription] appeared in the App Store, offering turn-by-turn GPS navigation in the United States based on Yahoo! Maps. Gokivo initially received a tremendous amount of criticism, as its App Store description gave no indication that an additional $9.99/month subscription was required in order to access turn-by-turn guidance. The App Store description has since been updated to clearly reflect which features are accessible with the $0.99 base version and which require the monthly subscription. Gokivo has received mixed reviews at best so far, with the nearly $120/year subscription price tag also remaining a significant stumbling block for many users.

Sygic last week also released two GPS applications for Australia/New Zealand and Southeast Asia. MobileMaps Australia & New Zealand [App Store, US$64.99] utilizes data from Telstra's Whereis service to offer thorough turn-by-turn GPS functionality throughout Australia and New Zealand, while MobileMaps Asia - South-East [App Store, US$79.99] uses data from Tele Atlas to offer navigation in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

The most recent major entrant to the turn-by-turn GPS iPhone app scene is Navigon, whose MobileNavigator Europe [App Store, US$94.99 through the end of June] application offers navigation in 40 European countries. While the current full European version is priced at 74.99, the price will increase to 99.99 as of July. Navigon will also soon be offering apps covering smaller European regions for the introductory price of 49.99, increasing to 69.99 as of July. Navigon is also planning to release a free "lite" version that will provide maps and point-of-interest listing, but no active navigation. Finally, Navigon promises that it is continuing to work on similar apps for other regions, including North America and Australia, and has released a brief video demonstrating MobileNavigator Europe in action.

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Kyle23
Posted: 35 months ago
I'm gonna have to wait for Tom Tom, seems much more stable and a better all around system. Still don't under stand the big hoopla around turn by turn tho, the map app already on the iPhone works amazing for me and if I take a wrong turn I can just re-calibrate the directions by hitting current location.
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4np
Posted: 35 months ago
While the above solutions (a small iPhone app which uses online maps through your 3G data connection) sounds nice, it really isn't. I have been traveling through Australia, New Zealand and the USA the past year and there are huge areas without cellular reception traveling through Australia, let alone data connections. Same goes for New Zealand. Also, I traveled from West Coast to East Coast in the USA and there were several states where I couldn't get an AT&T cellular connection with my San Francisco bought AT&T pre-paid card which I had bought with the assumption AT&T had coverage in every state. Bad assumption... So if you rely on online maps you're pretty much out of luck when navigating through less densely populated areas (or areas with less or no cellular reception)... I was very very happy with my TomTom ONE XL in Australia, New Zealand and the USA...

I would expect TomTom to release an iPhone application either including a local map and doing in-app purchases of additional maps which you then download over the air and store on your phone. Then you can always use navigation on the road, no matter how remote you are....

That's indeed what they suggest on their site:


the TomTom app including the latest maps
(coming soon to the iTunes App Store)


I would guess the TomTom App will be sold with a country / state map as regional maps (US, Europe, etc) tend to get quite large (over / around 1 GB) and I'm pretty sure telco's will not be happy if people download those large maps over the air ;) Probably you'll just buy TomTom with a country map, and do in-app purchases of a next map (country / state) you would like to visit.
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sananda
Posted: 35 months ago

Still don't under stand the big hoopla around turn by turn tho, the map app already on the iPhone works amazing for me and if I take a wrong turn I can just re-calibrate the directions by hitting current location.


Presumably you're not driving then.
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Pugpuppydude
Posted: 35 months ago

I'm gonna have to wait for Tom Tom, seems much more stable and a better all around system. Still don't under stand the big hoopla around turn by turn tho, the map app already on the iPhone works amazing for me and if I take a wrong turn I can just re-calibrate the directions by hitting current location.


Multi-tasking saves money :)
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Santa Rosa
Posted: 35 months ago
The Navigon one looks tempting but think I will hold out and see what like the Tom Tom app will be like and the price!!

Its a shame that it doesn't look at all likely that Garmin will be making an app, with their GPS navigation phone coming out some time maybe this year, maybe next. They seem to be having difficulties with it.
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NightStorm
Posted: 35 months ago
While I had really hoped to see either TomTom or Navigon release their standalone product for the U.S. before the start of my vacation trip (July 3rd), I have a feeling it'll be closer to the end of July/early August. Hopefully I'm wrong...

Price-wise, I've always expected the navigation apps to cost around $100. It's still cheaper than most standalone units and I don't have to worry about carrying/hiding another device. Further, its a lot cheaper than the built-in solutions, and more convenient.
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mgamber
Posted: 35 months ago

I'm gonna have to wait for Tom Tom, seems much more stable and a better all around system. Still don't under stand the big hoopla around turn by turn tho, the map app already on the iPhone works amazing for me and if I take a wrong turn I can just re-calibrate the directions by hitting current location.


The map app is fine when you have nothing else to do but stare at the screen. Country roads, highways, that kind of thing, where you barely need a map at all. Get into any kind of real traffic or even close to city driving, however, and it's worthless. Get on a motorcycle and it's totally worthless at all times. I've never used it and now that there are finally some real apps showing up, I'm sure I never will use it. I'm totally psyched for a real TBT app!
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SleepyHead157
Posted: 35 months ago
With all the built in GPS features in phones nowadays, who needs TomTom? They should come out with an iphone app which would make their popularity grow in the gadget community and in turn would make them more money.
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4np
Posted: 35 months ago

While I had really hoped to see either TomTom or Navigon release their standalone product for the U.S. before the start of my vacation trip (July 3rd), I have a feeling it'll be closer to the end of July/early August. Hopefully I'm wrong...

Price-wise, I've always expected the navigation apps to cost around $100. It's still cheaper than most standalone units and I don't have to worry about carrying/hiding another device. Further, its a lot cheaper than the built-in solutions, and more convenient.


Looks like you're in luck if you're coming to Europe for your hollidays:


Available from the AppStore, Navigon will cost you 74.99 €, including all Europe maps, for worth 1.65 GB of data!


Still a lot of data, as TomTom's Western & Central Europe map (for the ONE XL) is 1233.9 MB :)
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4np
Posted: 35 months ago

With all the built in GPS features in phones nowadays, who needs TomTom? They should come out with an iphone app which would make their popularity grow in the gadget community and in turn would make them more money.


ehm... that's what they are doing? Releasing a TomTom iPhone app and dock?

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