There are many great things about Android that make it a pioneering platform for mobile computing. While many other platforms require you to pay your carrier’s extra monthly fee for navigation, there are so many free apps for Android, this is almost unheard of for Android users. Also, making use of the device’s video/still camera to use augmented reality apps, along with powerful processors to handle the data, means Android tends to favor augmented reality apps while other platforms are still trying to catch up.
Just as virtual reality is a simulated world inside a computer that a person might enter through the use of goggles and earphones, augmented reality does the opposite, and brings the digital world out and overlaid on the real world through images captured with a device camera and displayed on the screen. An augmented reality app will show on the screen what the camera sees, overlaid with digital information giving data about what you see.
While apps like Wikitude and Google Goggles are becoming popular, and AR games like Specktrek starting to get attention, other useful apps using AR are also starting to appear, including the Route 66 GPS driving application. This app functions as a wonderful GPS in its own right. It gives turn by turn navigation and sports both online and offline maps. It gives information about speed cameras, and many other useful features, but its crowning gem is how it displays its driving information. Users can see on screen via the camera the road in front of them overlaid with the GPS information pointing them on their routes.
The interface is eye grabbing, as this is the first GPS application that doesn’t just display a cartoonish representation of the street, but the actual street you are driving on, overlaid with the necessary information. It is a novel concept and likely one that other GPS apps will eventually follow. The only real downside to this app is that the best features are only unlocked by a monthly subscription, similar to Tom Tom. However, if you do a lot of driving in unfamiliar areas, such as with sales professions, this might just be worth it to you.
If you happen to be driving at night, it’s no problem. You can toggle between day and night views, or AR view and regular GPS view. The app also offers 2D, 2D, and satellite view as well. Toggling between the many view offerings is fairly simple, and if you don’t want to subscribe to the monthly features, it functions very well as a GPS on its own.
Most GPS apps for Android will do what you need it to in terms of getting you from point A to point B. However, if you want something a little more unique, Route 66 GPS s for you!
