Skobbler launches free sat nav for Google Android phones

MikeB

Skobbler added a new Free Navigation application for the Android platform today. In an interesting turn of events from just over a year ago when Skobbler won the prestigious Navteq LBS Challenge Award with their SatNav application they have parted ways and have adopted the new kid on the block Open Street Maps as the mapping provider.

Skobbler was the first independent company to produce a Free Turn by Turn navigation application which has been a run away success on the iPhone. With 'sales' of 82,000 apps in just four weeks the take up has been amazing.

Obviously nothing comes for free and there is a price to be paid for everything. In Skobbler's case it is funded from advertising. Adverts are displayed in locations that do not interfere with the prime purpose of navigation such as at the end of routing. This lack of revenue will also have a price, maybe in the amount of development effort that can be allocated to improving the application.

The use of Open Street Maps is an interesting decision. Obviously this is part of what helps in the deployment of a Free App, but the OSM maps are not yet perfect. Not that I am criticising community based open source projects, far from it. It is interesting to see what the effect of OSM will have on Navteq and Tele Atlas in the future. The standard of the maps is not yet up to professional standard in some areas, as it all depends on the dedication of users in specific areas.

My area is just about perfect, mainly due to myself and another GPS enthusiast spending many hours out surveying the local roads and then the evenings putting it all into the OSM map editor. This works out fine if there are enough people willing to give up their time and effort to do this, but where there is a shortage of volunteers then the map will be less accurate.

The Open Source Maps are provided via an intermediary, CloudMade, who provide interfaces for various systems to access the map data and provide various APIs to download and manipulate it.

Interestingly when you look at the reviews for Skobbler in the Apple iTunes store you will note that just about all the negative criticism is regarding map accuracy and GPS fixes. the GPS fixes are obviously out of Skobbler's hands as that is down to the Apple iPhone hardware and the place that the user is trying to use it. The maps though remain an issue and account for the wildly varying reviews. Those users with a good map experience rave about it, those with a bad one trash it. Some definitely polarised opinions in the marketplace.

I expect that the Android version will be better received than the iPhone version as the Android community are generally more tech savvy than the iPhone users and will probably not expect an all singing, all dancing, fully featured navigation application for free. The average Android user is also more likely to understand and contribute to the Open Source Map project.

The main thing to bear in mind is that this a a genuinely FREE application not one subsidised by a mega-corporation with hidden agendas. The main question I have is the sustainability of the advertising business model. If mobile advertising goes the same way as Internet Advertising this may well be short lived in it's current format.

The full press release from Skobbler follows:

peterc10 · Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2010 3:11 pm Post subject:

A couple of questions.

Are the maps over the air or storable on the phone?

And does it support 3rd party POIs and the camera database?
_________________
Peter
HTC Sensation
Sygic GPS for Europe (No more TT "support"!)
Copilot for USA
Bury CC9060 bluetooth car kit & Brodit mount

MikeB · Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2010 3:14 pm Post subject:

W90BHP · Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 8:31 am Post subject:

I couldn't find it on a search of the Market. Does that mean it won't work on Android 1.5? Still waiting for the 2.1 update from 3!
_________________
LG G4: Android 6 : Viewranger : CoPilot : Waze
TomTom Go 730T : Traffic subscription long expired
Nokia E61 : Nokia GPS : TomTom Navigator 6 : Retired from duty
iPAQ 3970 : Navman Sleeve : CoPilot 4 : Somewhere in the loft

MikeB · Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 8:53 am Post subject:

W90BHP · Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 9:02 am Post subject:

Clicking that link on my Hero brings up "Heavy Gunner"! I'll try it on the PC later...
_________________
LG G4: Android 6 : Viewranger : CoPilot : Waze
TomTom Go 730T : Traffic subscription long expired
Nokia E61 : Nokia GPS : TomTom Navigator 6 : Retired from duty
iPAQ 3970 : Navman Sleeve : CoPilot 4 : Somewhere in the loft

MaFt · Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 9:59 am Post subject:

peterc10 · Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 10:07 am Post subject:

W90BHP · Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 10:09 am Post subject:

Now on a PC. Followed the links through to the Skobbler website and used the barcode to launch a marketplace search. Still came up "no matches" which suggests that it isn't available for Android 1.5 devices Sad

_________________
LG G4: Android 6 : Viewranger : CoPilot : Waze
TomTom Go 730T : Traffic subscription long expired
Nokia E61 : Nokia GPS : TomTom Navigator 6 : Retired from duty
iPAQ 3970 : Navman Sleeve : CoPilot 4 : Somewhere in the loft

W90BHP · Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 10:13 am Post subject:

After using Google translate on the Skobbler website, it says it's for Android 1.6+

Just have to wait for my update to 2.1 via 3 now...!
_________________
LG G4: Android 6 : Viewranger : CoPilot : Waze
TomTom Go 730T : Traffic subscription long expired
Nokia E61 : Nokia GPS : TomTom Navigator 6 : Retired from duty
iPAQ 3970 : Navman Sleeve : CoPilot 4 : Somewhere in the loft

MaFt · Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 10:30 am Post subject:

i thought the hero had been updated to 2.1? or are you just waiting for a carrier-specific version?

so glad i rooted mine!

MaFt

W90BHP · Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 10:33 am Post subject:

supraman · Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 11:36 am Post subject:

promar · Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 12:37 pm Post subject:

Have just loaded it on my HTC Desire (Android 2.1) without problems. Map detail very sparse. Doesn't show the road I live in. Compared with the Google maps Navigation ap it is very poor. I think I will stick with Google at the moment!
_________________
JP

TomTom 5200
Samsung Galaxy S8: Google Nav. Mapdroyd OSmap. Rmaps Andoid CoPilot

JockTamsonsBairn · Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 12:57 pm Post subject:

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