Google Maps Navigation – Explained Head to Toe

Do you have an android smartphone or a tablet and don’t know about its Google Maps Navigation app? You are missing out some serious fun and utility your mobile or tablet can provide you. Here in this post, I have explained almost everything you need to know about Google Maps Navigation. To start this post with, did you know that you can navigate to any place in your city whether you know the way or not with the help of this cool app.

What is Google Maps Navigation?

Google Maps Navigation is a child app to Google Maps which comes with it. Most of the android devices give this app pre installed, but still if for some reason, you don’t have this app installed on your device, you may download and install it by opening this link on Google Play.
This app can help you navigate from one place to another when you are not sure of the directions to that place. For example, you are standing at The Taj Mehal at Agra and you want to go to the Agra Fort. If you have never been there, I should tell you that Agra Fort is a monument which is visible at sight from the Taj Mehal but the directions to reach there are very complex. There is a chance that the public vehicles there can fool you by charging more than the actual cost as the destination is at walking distance. If you use Google Maps Navigation feature, you will get the exact directions which can lead you to your destination. Its not just getting directions, this app has more cool features which I am going to mention further in this post.
You can start this app from the menu on your Android device which says “Navigation”.

Home Screen

When you enter this app, the first screen you see is the home screen. If you have your Data or GPS disabled, you may get a dialog prompting you to enable the same. The home screen as shown in the below image, contains many options. The uppermost right icon lets you select your mode of transport. There the three namely, driving, public transport and walking. There are four options to select your destination. If you select the speak destination, Google Voice Search will insert your speech as the search query. If you type the destination, your typed phrase will be searched. If you select go home, you will be navigated to your home address from anywhere in the world. If you select Map, you get to select your destination from a map. You can also re-navigate to some of your recent destinations from here.

The parallel screens are “Starred”, where you can select the destination from one of your starred places in Google Maps and the other is “Contacts”, where you can visit the address of one of your contacts.

Navigating to a Destination

To navigate to a destination, you can select one from the home screen. Before navigating, the app will show the distance from your location to destination and the approximate time it may take to reach there. Of course, the address of the destination, its snapshot (if available) and the location is also shown in the description.

Behind this description is the map from your location to the destination, as shown in the below image. The blue dot represents you, i.e. your current location and the green dot represents your destination. As you travel, the blue dot also travels along with you guiding you through every turn and round about in the way. It assists you in many ways which are mentioned further in “features”.

You can see for alternative routs and more while travelling. If you travel off the path, the app still shows you the way on it, or an alternative way if available (and is shorter).

Features

There are a lot features this app has to offer. Here are some giants of them.

Street View

Street view is viewing the map by street. when you reach close to the destination, the app starts showing the street view where you can see an animated picture of what you are seeing outside the window of your car in 3D. This feature is available for selected destinations.

Voice Assistance

As you travel on the road, you get total voice assistance for every turn and straight road. For example when you reach your destination, the voice assistance may prompt you, “In 50 meters, turn right and your destination will be on the left.” This is a very handy feature when you are on a two wheeler as you cannot look on the screen but you can plug in the earphones and listen to the voice which is guiding you through the way.

Traffic View

In the above screenshot, the green dot at the bottom left shows that the traffic around the traveler is average. If there’s a lot traffic, this light turns red. You can tap on this light to see the traffic ahead of you.

Transit Navigation

Transit Navigation is now available for around 400 cities around the globe. This feature shows you the routs of public transport to your destination. This feature lets you set many constraints such as “The Best Route”, “Less Walking” etc. and can show you the path through many public transport services including bus, train and underground. Very ideal when you are in an unknown city and you don’t have a personal vehicle. This is all in this post. I hope you would have liked reading.Stay tuned for more app reviews on AndroGraffiti.