Fun on the Autobahn: Google Maps Navigation in 11 more Countries

Wednesday, June 9, 2010 | 4:00 AM

There’s nothing quite like driving through Europe in the summer. In the past week, I’ve seen the beautiful Val d’Aosta, the Swiss Alps, the Cathedral in Chartres, and travelled through the Channel Tunnel as I road-tripped from Milan to Geneva, Zürich to Stuttgart, and on through Paris to London. Why the burst of mileage? Well, I’ve been testing Google Maps Navigation version 4.2. Yes, road-testing it around Europe was a grueling process, but somebody had to do it :)

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.


On my test trip, I found a number of Navigation features useful:
  • While driving through the Loire Valley, I put my French language skills to the test by finding my destination with Search by voice (now launched in French, German, Italian, and Spanish for Android 2.0 and higher);
  • I previewed a typical British roundabout with Street View to see exactly where I’d need to exit before getting there in person;
  • I satisfied my craving for moules frites by searching for it along my route;
  • I kept the gas stations layer on to ensure I’d always know where the nearest petrol station was, just in case;
  • And, of course, the turn-by-turn voice guidance kept me on-track to my destination -- despite my sometimes spotty connection in mountain tunnels -- thanks to the way Maps Navigation saves the route on your device when you start.
Google Maps Navigation (beta) with Search by voice is available in version 4.2 of Google Maps, on Android devices 1.6 and higher. To download Google Maps version 4.2, search for Google Maps in Android Market.

Try Google Maps Navigation in your local country and language today -- and have a great time touring around the Continent this summer if you get the chance!

109 comments:

Jonathan said...

What about Sweden =(

truthkid said...

Awesome! I'm about to move to Italy, so this will certainly help me get around.

RanY said...

When Israel get Google Maps Navigation?

Unknown said...

Also for Blackberry ????

Dylan said...

Australia, please!

Deoki said...

YAY! Portugal!
Thanks for the great work, guys.
Goodbye TomTom One Europe.

Oh, and what about some more voices in diferent languages, Google?

Unknown said...

How can I use Google maps navigation in Europe without spending my entire salary on roaming fees?

Zac Spitzer said...

Australia please

NA said...

What about South Africa??? World cup visitors are gonna get lost, they need some navigation!

Jeff Scott said...

thanks from Canada!

CPHLAX said...

come on boys.. we need directions in Sweden to you know!

Philip Starkey said...

Please enable Australia soon. Everything is set up already, you just need to work out licensing issues...It can't be that hard! 22million people will thank you!

Jahmon said...

Thank you google guys this is great news !

Jonas said...

Keeping my fingers crossed for Nav in Sweden as well! Would be ever so sweet to have that in time for summer vacation! =) Nevertheless, what a wonderful job and a fantastic service you provide! TY!!!

Pedro said...

Awesome ! Thanks a lot !

Colin W said...

"typical British roundabout" - That is not typical, that is the worst type!!

Mikołaj Rotnicki said...

What about Poland?

Radek said...

Poland please

Unknown said...

Why did you stop just one country short of Hungary? At least we can hope to have it soon, Maps Navigation is in the neighborhood for now. It would be a real treat to have it, as well as paid apps. Please?

Unknown said...

Consider Hong Kong please... please keep up with the street view as well, don't give up Hong Kong please.

method77 said...

Greece please!!!

Rayco J. said...

What happens with Canary Islands, we are in Spain, but it says that not available!!

Sanne Buurma said...

I would like to know how you went about with the different mobile internet providers throughout Europe... because as far as I know there are no Full Data packages for the whole of Europe available yet...

Normally you pay jackpot when crossing a border, how is going to be solved?

KHS said...

A big Thank You from Germany!

Daniel Alvarez said...

Plase add Argentina!!! thanks.

Tomas said...

Adding my vote for Norway next!

Mike said...

Awesome, I've been waiting for this in Canada.

Gabor SUVEG said...

i dont see updated maps in market, im in austria, what can i do?

Unknown said...

Yes i would also like this in Sweden. Hope this will come soon

Andras said...

I know, Hungary is a small market, and country, but we would very happy if you allowed to use the google maps navigation:)

Fugue said...

For PALM PRE in spain????

Unknown said...

Oh Hell Yhea! :) Iam about to chew-up the auto-bahn in Stuttgart with this today.
I have been waiting for this, Good work Google.

m4ss said...

Thanks from Italy !!

Navigation and voice recognition works perfectly !!

My android device was a super robot now ;-)

Haksun Kim said...

Korea please!

Josevan said...

Brazik is a very big country. Please consider the Brasil. Thanks

mp3geek said...

New Zealand?

Phrog said...

Australia Please

Arendals.com said...

Could you implement pre-loading and caching of maps too? Especially useful if goung on vacation where WLAN is sparse and 3G / mobile data traffic expensive for foreigners?

Unknown said...

That is a good idea, is it possible?

Fluency said...

It appears the comments section is a poll for which country should get it next :)

If so... South Africa please :D

Btw... Thanks for launching Street View here :)

Renato Almeida Silva said...

is this a poll? if so I vote for Brazil! and brazillian portuguese voice search.

Anonymous said...

Sweden, New Zealand and Canada are my priorities. TY for Canada!

Brett said...

If you speak English and live in a foreign country, why do we have to wait until Google translate into that language? Why cant we just get the English version?

goc said...

CROATIA a must, since half of Europe will come here for summer vacations !!!

thank you.

Unknown said...

- "What about South Africa??? World cup visitors are gonna get lost, they need some navigation!"

He is right, would be great and a lot of good publicity for google!

And please, do add Sweden soon! /Swede

Julian J. M. said...

Canary islands is a province of Spain. Please enable. :)

240Zzzap said...

The idea is great but as some have stated, mobile internet costs will be a killer when driving abroad. "Fun on the Autobahn" for example would cost me € 5.95 per downloaded MB. So I won't be using this on international trips...for now.

Bard said...

Can anyone explain why we don't have it for Australia yet? Considering the google maps team started here...
:)

kEiThZ said...

I was getting so frustrated waiting. Eyeing that new iPhone 4.

And then just like that Google reminded me that I have steak waiting for me at home and I don't need to eye the burgers.

Go Google!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for bringing this to Canada.

RB said...

Hellooooo...Denmark?
What about Sweden???
You know, that nordic country that has the most internet mobile connected devices per capita in the whole world, and the first 4G mobile network in the world...

Patrik said...

Another vote for Sweden and also another vote for being able to use the "Search by voice" in English!

Keep up the good work!

Varun said...

India?? India is the biggest market!

JAAS said...

PUERTO RICO PLEASE!!!!!

Her Žile said...

Offline mode please...

Data is still very expensive, especially when roaming!

Preloading entire countries to SD card would be of great use!

And I know we're not really an important market, but Serbia has really nice maps already, and all carriers are selling android phones like hotcakes!

Rodrigo Valin said...

I think Chile will be the last country to be included! But India? Is impossible to track India! Too big!

aznrocket said...

Make it workable on Android 1.5! :)

Unknown said...

What about Ukraine !?

Unknown said...

Canada loves you even more, Google!

Anonymous said...

Great timing, just after launch of iPhone 4. Thanks Google!! ( from The Netherlands )

John Crespi said...

And of course Telus Hero 1.5 users are YET AGAIN left out in the cold.

NA said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

Unknown said...

Will Google bring this to the iPhone?

Simon said...

Norway too, please!

Cris Solis Chen said...

I hope you will one day not leave Asia in the dark! Bring it to Asia! We are always left out! Com'on HTC is from Taiwan!

confy said...

Israel too, please! :)

Unknown said...

Hope can launching at Malaysia and Singapore soon.

Unknown said...

What about Navigation for Mexico? What about Navigation for iPhone... I mean, there's an app called "NDrive Mexico" and this app has been number one in the Top Grossing chart for weeks in the Mexican app store. You can get the app for $50USD. I believe this indicates that Mexican people is a great market for GPS based services.

Kristo said...

I cant understand restriction. If USA citisen come EU then he/she cant navigate ?

OK.. but please add Estoia, Latvia and Finland.

Philip said...

this is the best - you guys own the world!!! - looking forward to froyo on htc. what would the world be without google!? definently buying the wepad - to bad its not gonna have tegra2

Toni Lähdekorpi said...

Yeah, yeah, yeah... Now do Finland.

Nelson Cruz said...

Damn! My HTC Magic is still 1.5... :(

Can you guys please make it work on 1.5? Or maybe push HTC to update us?

Stellar Drift said...

I don't think you should give navigation to Sweden - they are lost by nature, so it won't help ;-)

█▓▒░ H3g3m0n ░▒▓█ said...

I vote for Australia next.

There is a modified version of maps on XDA that removes the region restriction but has a few minor bugs (although most of them have been fixed). Just Google "XDA Brut Maps"

@Nelson_Cruz: Just root your phone and get CyanogenMod. Even if HTC push out an update for the Magic (they did say it's getting 2.2), it probably won't be for ages (ie in 6 months when the next version is out). And there is no guarantee that we will see the next version get an update, at that point most people will be coming out of their contracts and HTC will want them buying new phones. The next Android version could be important since it apparently modularizes the OS so you could just get individual updates for the phones components like you do apps. It would mean you no longer have to wait for the updates from the handset maker. Then again they might decide to roll out the update since that would mean they would have less need to roll out future ones.

EMK said...

This is great! Waiting for Norway (Scandinavia) now!
Keep it coming! Good job!

Unknown said...

SWEDEN PLEASE!!!

Unknown said...

SWEDEN PLEASE!!!

Unknown said...

Fail until Blackberry support is provided...

MLW said...

Timetable for Australia?

MLW said...

Also I vote for enabling map downloads too

Chris said...

Australia and NZ have to be next

Unknown said...

Brazilian maps!!

And Offline maps too.

Thant Thura said...

What about Singapore???

Nevil Gandhi said...

Hey there,
What about India?
Where are you launch this feature in
india?
Thanks,

Nevil Gandhi

niket said...

u guys like challenges ??, implement it in INDIA !!

Lady H said...

I live in Belgium and Luxembourg and I'm not finding the Google Maps in the Market.
Am I missing something?
Appriciate your help.

Regards
T.K.

Unknown said...

When will you add India? We need it more than anyone. Roads are a mess here.

Anonymous said...

Sweden. Pretty please!

Bort said...

Heard a rumor that Google Navigation for South Africa was going to be launched just in time for the Soccer World Cup?

Any truth in this? A huge plus for foreign visitors coming to South Africa!

Cmon Google, do it!

Björn said...

Seriously, still no sweden...

Unknown said...

We Need this in South Africa Especially during the Soccer world cup

Unknown said...

GREAT! This is awesome!

Preloading entire countries to SD card would be great!

Because navigate from The Netherlands to France would cost 1000 euros for Roaming costs...

I love google more and more!

Lex Wind, The Netherlands

Jason Folkers said...

Here's another vote for pre-loading areas to your SD card to avoid roaming costs. I'm in Canada, and don't use navigation much up here... but would really like to use it in the States when I visit. Only problem is the data roaming costs.

What say you, oh google gurus?

Robbert said...

This is sooo awesome. I always though "If it's not even in Europe right now it will take months or even years until it arrives in tiny little Austria".
The next day I check my news widget and it's released in Austria :D
THANK YOU

ooze said...

We really need some kind of caching, because of the horrendous roaming fees or areas with poor or no network coverage.

Ronak said...

Please bring it to Singapore soon...

Unknown said...

Google, please launch Navigation in Australia by the time Froyo is introduced here (July).
22 Million Australians are eagerly awaiting it's launch here.

Pete said...

What about this app for iPhone?

Marcus said...

Navigation is a very good tool. Thanks Google :-)
Best wishes from Stuttgart/Germany...

MLW said...

Bring it to Australia, also make the Nexus One available for sale in Australia!!

-sk. said...

Who paid your roaming bill?
Should be far north of 3000USD ...

DC Steve said...

I'm planning on using Google Navigation in Ireland later this summer, but am a little concerned about the data usage. While preloading would be great, I understand there are licensing issues with that for maps. So I had a few simple questions/suggestions:

1) How much data does Google Navigation use? I understand that it depends on the route, but it would be nice to have a rough idea. I assume once you have the route loaded, that there is not data usage except if you go off track? When I used the iPhone in Canada with Google Maps, I could get GPS positions even with having data disabled.

2) If the phone knows it's roaming, could Google Navigation go into a "low data usage" mode optionally. If it can't be done automatically, then perhaps an option to go "low data". This would include things like not showing images, using map view instead of sky view, and limiting other data polling like traffic, etc.

Lincoln said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

Lincoln said...

Please provide Google Maps for Mobile navigation on the Symbian Series 60 5 th edition touch interface. Nokia is already giving voice navigation for free on this platfrom.

Stas said...

Dear Google! We need this in RUSSIA. Please do it as soon as you can. Please....

Bowser said...

South Africa asseblief (please). We don't want our visitors losing their way...

Thanks for your awesome products and services, brilliant stuff that reaches even places like the tip of Africa!

Unknown said...

Please make navigation available for Windows Mobile, I had an android phone and I love the navigation from you guys. I really hope you consider our comments.

Unknown said...

I'm sure someone has said it already, but that really isn't a typical British roundabout. The vast majority don't have the smaller supplementary roundabouts off the larger.
Anyway, the article isn't about roundabouts. Google Navigation looks awesome, I just hope it comes to iPhone in the future. Keep up the great work.

Unknown said...

I am enthusiastic user of Google Maps, but... on the Blackberry. Will we get navigation on this platform? We should, after all we get all the other features!

Anonymous said...

San Juan Puerto Rico does not work and is part of the United States and the app is not available at my location, would know if they will include ...