Telenav has been steadily improving Scout, its personalized navigation platform, ever since its introduction. Today, Scout users will finally get the crowd-sourced traffic info they were promised back in April. Scout for both iOS and Android now provides you the wisdom of its 100 million users and traffic partners, allows you to see which roads are congested and calculates up to three possible routes -- letting you find the most efficient way from point A to point B. That real-time traffic info augmented with user input also enables drivers to share a more accurate estimated time of arrival, so your dinner date will know exactly how long you'll be delayed due to that unforeseen fender-bender on the freeway. Additionally, the update adds several new recommendation categories to its Things to Do feature, so it'll now tell you about live music, local festivals and outdoor activities, too. Sound good? You know the drill, Google Play and the App Store await.
Filed under: GPS, Software, Mobile
Source: Google Play, App Store
Telenav has long been a purveyor of navigation apps for phones, browsers, and cars, but today the company's revealed Scout for Cars: Built In to bring those platforms together. It's an in-dash system that provides both the form factor and UX optimized for autos and all the features of the Scout for Phones app. It works using Bluetooth to connect to iOS, Android, or Windows Phone devices to sync your info and let you access the mobile app's current map info. It also borrows your phone's data connection, which gives users access to voice control and search and discovery features, plus real-time weather and traffic updates using the in-dash touchscreen.
Scout for Cars: Built In can also seamlessly hand off navigation duties to the phone when you exit your car -- a convenient feature for folks as directionally challenged on foot as they are behind the wheel. And, if you're worried about getting lost should you forget to bring your phone, fear not, for Scout for Cars: Built In uses your handset to provide a better experience, but it's not dependent upon it, so it still gets you where you need to go on its own. The system is currently available to automakers right now, so the system should be finding its way into dealerships sometime soon.
Filed under: GPS, Transportation
There are plenty of choices to meet your mobile mapping needs, from feature-rich offerings from big names like Google, Apple and Nokia to crowd-sourced services like Waze. Telenav's Scout app falls somewhere in between, and today the company announced that it'll get both 3D buildings and landmarks and crowd-sourced traffic reporting (backed by TomTom's database) later this year. Graphically, Scout in 3D looks similar to Google Maps and will initially be available for major metro areas in the US.
As for traffic reporting, Telenav will be asking its 34 million subscribers to report accidents and traffic jams, and will update its database in real-time. That means that as road conditions change, Scout'll suggest faster alternate route options to get you from point A to point B hassle-free. No word exactly when these new capabilities will make it to users, but when they do arrive later this year, both premium and free users will get 'em. In the meantime, check out the video of the new 3D maps in action after the break.
Filed under: Cellphones, GPS, Software, Mobile
Beyond its free price, users of Scout for the iPhone have an extra reason to smile today as the navigation app now supports location sharing. More specifically, users will be able to share their current location or future destination via either text message, email or Facebook. By leveraging Telenav's HTML5 navigation system, recipients can take advantage of the company's browser-based, turn-by-turn directions by merely clicking the sender's enclosed link. As another nice touch, Scout also now supports automated notifications, which allows users to provide estimated arrival times via text message to chosen contacts whenever they depart for a specific destination such as home or the office. For a peek at the new features, in addition to a quick introduction of the new Things To Do menu and revised My Dashboard, be sure to check out the video after the break.
Source: Scout (App Store)
iOS app devs got Telenav turn-by-turn navigation access in March of this year, and now the same can be said for folks programming for Android and Windows Phone. In case you forgot, the Scout for Apps platform allows developers to incorporate Scout's personalized navigation directly into their applications. Not only that, but Telenav's making it easier for website owners to do the same for their websites with the release of the Scout Drive Button. The button puts the power of browser-based GPS mapping in an easy-to-implement widget, for free, with no coding expertise required. It also allows users to click the Drive button in their desktop browser to send a link to their phones that'll launch navigation directly, as opposed to inputting the address into a nav app manually. Interested? More info awaits after the break, and devs can get down and dirty with both Scout for Apps and the Drive widget at the sources below.
Filed under: Cellphones, GPS, Internet
Telenav Scout for Apps comes to Android and Windows Phone, Scout Drive Button released for website-based nav originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Aug 2012 18:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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We know that iOS 6 will bless iPhone users with some in-house-made mapping, but that hasn't stopped Telenav from bettering its own Scout navigation offering for Apple's favorite handsets. Scout now does offline navigation by letting users download maps of the west, central or eastern United States over WiFi only. Plus, Scout now takes voice commands, so on your next road trip you can tell it to find the nearest Whataburger whether you have cell signal or not. Interested parties can head on over to the App Store to get their download on, but you'll pay for the privilege -- offline navigation costs $9.99 a year or $2.99 a month, though the free, data-dependant version of Scout for iPhone still includes speech recognition. Still not sold? Perhaps the video after the break will persuade you.
Continue reading Telenav's Scout gives iOS users offline navigation in exchange for ten bucks
Telenav's Scout gives iOS users offline navigation in exchange for ten bucks originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Aug 2012 08:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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