A couple of days ago Life of Android gave you a heads up on the pretty comprehensive CoPilot Live 9 sat nav app. Today its Route 66 turn in the driving seat with its new app for Android smartphones and tablets, the snappily titled Maps + Navigation.
Route 66’s road master differs from CoPilot Live 9 by featuring Follow Me Augmented Reality navigation. Like Google Maps’ Street View you’re presented with real time view of the road ahead via the device’s built-in camera but a virtual 3D car, complete with working indicators, has been drawn in to help with guidance.
Beyond the fancy AR route-assistance, this app delivers the standard issue turn-by-turn voice guidance, 3D mappage and optional extras like Real Time traffic updates and speed camera alerts. Interestingly it’s also the first app from Route 66 to use TomTom maps; over 100 countries worldwide are covered with cool mods like 3D City Maps, 3D landmarks and a massive Points of Interest database (POI) part of the deal.
With a large online-based community constantly updating roads, TomTom cartography is famed for its reliability and up to date data. Maps can also be accessed in two ways: downloaded and store on your device or piped through over the network during your journey. Price and availability has yet to be nailed down but we’ve been told it will hit the Android Market very soon. However we do know you will need an Android device running 2.1 or later to get it working the roads.
