If you’re in mainland Europe, you might want to fire up your Android phone and see if your Google Maps has suddenly magically started working as a fully-featured satnav, as many users are reporting that Google has activated Maps Navigation right across Europe today.
Here, for example, is the German-language product page and a couple of demo shots from German roads:
Lucky Germans. And also lucky today are people who run in-car accessory shops in Europe, as there’s bound to be a sudden rise in car-charger and dock sales on the back of this.
According to Engadget, Maps Navigation is confirmed as now working in Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, Switzerland and Belgium.
UPDATE:
We now have the official announcement from Google:
“Today we’re launching Google Maps Navigation version 4.2 in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland for Android devices 1.6 and higher. Google Maps Navigation is an Internet-connected GPS navigation or ‘satnav’ system that provides turn-by-turn voice guidance as a free feature of Google Maps.”
Mark
/ June 9, 2010Worth pointing out, it was already working in the UK. (not sure about “turncircle” rather than “roundabout” thou…)
Bristolboy
/ June 9, 2010This will reuslt in a few more people on mainland Europe/Canada considering an Android phone as their next device I expect!
Shahzada Hatim
/ June 11, 2010Waiting for Norther Europe (Sweden)