Sunday, June 07, 2009

Navigator Upgrade

When I bought my MapMyIndia navagator a couple of months back, my first question had been - when will you update the maps? Even though there were extremely detailed maps of over 200 cities and towns in India, I could see that they were at least 2-3 years or more older... places like the University Flyover in Pune were not updated on the maps. They had assured me the maps were to be updated my May/June, and frankly, I did not believe them.

A few days earlier, I got a mail from them saying new maps were available, and all I needed to do was transfer 500 Rs into their ICICI account, and they would dispatch them to me.

I got the SD card the day I left for Goa, and I carried my navigator with me in the bus to check out the changes.

I was left stunned. The maps have been completely redone - this time, they are not vectorized graphics, but satellite based images with amazingly high quality - includes detailed layouts even of traffic islands. In most cases, one way streets are marked out. There's huge content - for example, a search for restaurants in Calangute threw up 99 entries! And everywhere I went in Goa, including when we went to Molem and Tambdi Surla, the navigator knew exactly where I was - and could even point out untarred pathways in many cases!

The applicaiton also has been updated - has much better search functions, is very usable, and is a pleasure to use. Having the navigator on while driving is not just useful when you don't know the road... but is a lot of fun even when you do!

And all this for a 500 Rs upgrade!

I seriously love these guys, and I wish I could do my bit to sell more of their kits!

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