The problem with Google's offering here is the fact that the navigation is an online application. Roaming charges are excessive here, so the moment you leave your home country, using an online navigation app becomes prohibitively expensive.
Combine that with the fact that, especially here in little switzerland, the only time you REALLY need a navigation tool is, of course, when you are abroad.
Interesting and a nice addition (as it is free), but no replacement for the traditional solutions.
It's much more useful in the U.S, where you can get cell coverage in most major highways and cities, usually on your original cell carrier. And people often need some sort of navigation app in an unfamiliar city - the U.S. is big, and many older cities don't have the most logical street plan.
Does the EU not have some sort of unified cell network? I'd think that'd hurt their competitiveness a lot, if people can't take their cell phones with them when traveling between countries for fear of huge roaming bills.
exactly. I totally see this being useful in the US. I was just pointing out a counterpoint from Europes side.
And. No. The EU does not have a unified cell network. And as long as nobody does it, nobody will start with it as these excessive roaming charges (EUR 10 per MB is common) are a really nice way to make additional money - especially considering that people are moving around more and more.
Well, that's our problem in EU - no unified Cell Network - operators milk their intra-EU traveling customers however they want. There's some progress in EU parliament/commision, but it is so slow it will take 50 years before we get unified market. US has range of other problems with telco market though.
It won't be too long before the value of the ads placed in applications like this will be able to subsidize the entire experience, globally.
Google is in the business of bringing their services TO you, this application being one good example.
But like Google Voice and Voicemail, they are also finding ways to completely reinvent industries without locking you in. You don't have to use Google Voice, but boy it's valuable if you do.
I think at some point not to far from now, we're going to see Google Bandwidth or Google Data, which will offer IP-based wireless services for free while wiping out the concept of roaming.
Google makes money on ads through the usage of online services. The pricing structures in the telcos is frequently designed to make usage expensive/difficult.
Google's going to make it easier, again, by cutting the telcos out the equation almost entirely. Their investments in dark fibre and the future investments they'll make off the back of their ad business makes this quite a linear equation as bandwidth becomes cheaper.
Google is going to become the most feared company in the world . . . feared by business, not by users.
I don't think that's the main market of GPS navigation. Everyone I know uses them just to help get them to everyday new places. A store you haven't been to before, a weekend trip to another town, etc. No matter how small Switzerland is, I know that no one I know would ever be able to make our way around the entire thing without help.
I tend to agree. If it's tethered to a cell tower, it can't completely replace dedicated navigation devices.
Also - Like other navs, this solves the problem of 'what hotels are near me'. Unfortunately neither this solution or existing dedicated navs solve the problem of 'what hotels near me have available rooms, and how much do they cost'.
however, with open data in google maps, a search like that may start to yield results sooner than you think. I did a search via google maps the other day for resuraunts around me and noticed booking info in the popup. It's not far away to get the google maps navigation to leave out fully booked hotels, coffee shops etc.
I think it'll be a while before Google is able to provide mapping data internationally. That's why Google Maps Navigation is only available in the US, where it's a perfectly suitable replacement for traditional GPS devices, especially with Verizon's ubiquitous coverage.
Combine that with the fact that, especially here in little switzerland, the only time you REALLY need a navigation tool is, of course, when you are abroad.
Interesting and a nice addition (as it is free), but no replacement for the traditional solutions.