Road Navigation Software on the Apple iPhone

Ever since the iPhone 3G with a built-in Globallocate Hammerhead II chipset came out a year ago, we’d been waiting for a full GPS Assisted Navigation solution for the iPhone. With its bright and wide screen and graphics performance, it seemed like an ideal platform.

Hot on the heels of the announcement at long last of “Full GPS Assisted Navigation” for the iPhone at the Apple WWDC 2009 show in early June with TomTom, other editors have been releasing navigation software…while TomTom Navigator remains unavailable. No word on what is causing the delay, but chances are the “Active Mount” (Power, loudspeakers, GPS receiver) is proving difficult to produce. Anyway let’s see what is available as of today, “on-board” (maps stored on the iphone” and “off-board” (maps streamed from a server) wise. The first “on board” package was Navigon in Europe with Navigon for iPhone and the US just got the “Lite” version. Next came Sygic Mobile Maps in Asia, Australia, North America and Europe, reviewed by forum member “way”. Moving on to “off-board” applications, we have AT&T Navigator that was reviewed by Paul and Gokivo reviewed by forum member JohnR (review links below).

Overall, none of us were very impressed by the iPhone as a dedicated navigation system, either because of the feature set, lack of traffic information on the “off-board” applications, or the way they are implemented, recalculation is often slow. This could be fixed over time, but of higher concern are the limitations due to the iPhone platform, navigation exits when you make a call, fast battery drain, and possibly GPS performance as I found with Navigon in the center of Paris that the map lagged severely after a turn. You can use the topics linked below to discuss each application or use this guide for general questions and comparisons.