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Top mobile sat nav software

There’s nothing worse than turning up to a meeting late because you couldn’t find the venue. Here's the best navigation software and devices to ensure you get there on time.

By Clare Hopping, 13 May 2009 at 15:19

Most high-end business phones come with GPS and a navigation application pre-installed, but what are the top 10 out there? Does Blackberry Maps beat Nokia Maps? What are the advantages of using Google Maps over paid-for satellite navigation software such as TomTom?

With GPS appearing on more and more devices, it’s important to find the right software to use it, especially if you travel a lot in your job and need to find your way to meetings frequently.

If you use a satellite navigation system currently, it could be time to scrap the bulk and invest in one of the software programs that include voice directions, otherwise, just stick to free software readily available preinstalled or to download on the internet.

We take a look at what’s hot in the world of mobile navigation so you can find your way quickly to your next meeting.

Free software

BlackBerry Maps comes preinstalled on all BlackBerry devices with or without GPS and is a great tool to use for plotting a route and getting there using step-by-step text instructions.

If you’re looking for a venue to meet up with a contact, you can simply enter a keyword, such as ‘coffee’ into the search engine and it’ll come up with a list of coffee houses within 30KM of your current location, plus you can request step-by-step directions to get there and send the route to your contact so they can find out how to get there.

If you’re meeting someone at their office, you can view where their office is, because the application syncs with your phonebook to display names and addresses of everyone in your phonebook on the map.

Once you’ve found your destination, you can bookmark these on the application too so you don’t need to search for them again.

Nokia Maps was updated a couple of months ago, with some impressive features added. Firstly, you can now plan a route from your PC at home and then load it onto your mobile, with turn-by-turn directions - although you’ll have to pay for this feature.

If you’re walking to a meeting, there is an improved engine for Walk mode with shortest route option and maps detailed enough to show multiple entrances to underground stations.

Other useful additional options include access to real-time info such as traffic alerts, safety camera locations and city event guides that provide access to events and film listings in more than 450 cities.

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8 comments

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Windows Mobile has more functionality than you think!

I'm using an AT&T Fuze (a.k.a. HTC Touch Pro) running Google Maps 3.0.1.6 which has lots of great functionality. I can say that even though I have "fat fingers" I use nothing but touch when working with Google Maps ... no stylus required! Up front, I want to say that I have a 3G unlimited data plan, which also provides much of the functionality described below. No data plan? No functionality! As you stated, Google Maps on Windows Mobile does have have Map, Satellite and Street views. If desired, you can even report "inappropriate" street view content. The zoom icons are at the bottom, but don't affect my map view. It also integrates into Google's Latitude, if you want to keep track of your friends and vice versa. Google Maps has a great search function, which is great on trips, whether looking for coffee or restaurants or whatever POI you desire. You can also select one of the results and call their telephone number, in case you have questions or need to make reservations. It also provides you with driving, public transit or walking directions. It can show traffic which helps you to avoid congested areas. Traffic is shown as Green (over 50 mph), Yellow (26 to 50 MPH), Red (less than 25 MPH) or Gray, where no data is available. By the way, you can even save locations as "Favorites." I also love the interaction between Google Maps and other WM apps. For instance, I can lookup Contacts' addresses for mapping. I also have a program called GCz for Geocaching that will show cache locations (as red balloon pins) on Google Maps. The interoperability between these (and other) apps is really good. In conclusion, while I don't have "pinch" controls, I think I can safely say that is the only thing "lacking" from the Windows Mobile version. Thanks again for an great article!

By dscammell on Thursday May 21

wish

I wish i could have one of blackberry celphones.

By neycohvem on Thursday May 21

hello!!!,..........

can u please give me a free blackberry cellphone because i found it useful in my life..i really like your site.i only hoping that i'm the one of the members to have that in free.thanks!

By rafox on Monday May 25

nardie

weee... i hope that i can get one of this. i like this kind of phone., having more useful application i think. can you give me a blackberry celphones.

By junnard on Monday May 25