Google Maps Navigation for Android in SA

Google announced the availability of Google Maps Navigation in South Africa during the launch of the Sony Ericsson Arc and Neo today (2 August 2011).

The Beta for Google Maps Navigation was first announced in October 2009, but was initially only available in the United States. The service has gradually been rolling out globally.

According to Google’s original announcement, Google Maps Navigation for Android offers the following features:

• Search in plain English
• Search by voice
• Traffic view
• Search along route
• Satellite view
• Street View
• Car dock mode

Brett St. Clair, head of mobile at Google South Africa, went through the current list of features of Google Maps in South Africa to introduce the services underlying Navigation for Android.

Google Maps boasts the following features locally.

• Street view
• 3D maps
• Offline mode

St. Clair explained that Navigation for Android is available on all Android 1.6 devices (and newer) for free, and provides directions for driving and walking.

Brett St. Clair

According to St. Clair, they are working on getting other layers such as transit maps and traffic into the service, but couldn’t provide a definite date.

Google Maps Navigation will be launching on Sony Ericsson’s newly launched Arc and Neo Android devices, but will be also available for other devices that meet the minimum requirements for the Android operating system.

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Google Maps Navigation screenshot gallery