Best navigation utilities for Android devices in India

Portable navigation devices are now things of the past as GPS-enabled smartphones have ably taken over. Today car users don’t need to fit a dedicated GPS navigator to guide them on their journey; their versatile smartphone can efficiently guide them to their destination. Android phone users can download some of these paid or free navigation tools from the Google Play Store and get going.

MapMyIndia

MapMyIndia is among the most popular and user-friendly navigation tools for India. It provides users with the most detailed mapping and navigation service. Find full 3D views of about 20 cities, street level maps of over 4000 Indian cities, house-level details for nearly 36 cities as well as 6.3 million Points of Interest (POIs).

The MapMyIndia Navigator app allows users to search places as well as mark select locations, such as favourite restaurants, hotels, ATMs, hospitals and more with ease and speed, either by name or category. This app also allows users to select and navigate to the chosen destination as well as choose to save these frequented destinations to favorites.

What’s more, in case the driver misses a turn, this application generates a new route automatically, thus ensuring that he/she is still on the right track. For instant homebound navigation from wherever one is, all one needs to do is simply shake their handset and the MapMyIndia app will safely guide them back to their homes.

If drivers exceed their speed limits on major highways, the application instantly notifies them, so that they can slow down. At night, the MapMyIndia Navigator app automatically switches to night-time mode, thus allowing for safe viewing during a night journey.

Google Maps

When one thinks navigation, the first name that comes to mind is Google Maps. Google Maps is a highly popular, efficient and an absolutely free mapping and navigation service from Google. With Google Maps, one can jot the destination from point A to point B with ease and the app will show them the entire route along with details such as distances between interim locations, landmarks, the time taken during the journey, directions, calculate routes, etc.

With Google maps, users can conveniently look for nearby POIs such as ATMs, hospitals, restaurants, hotels, gas stations, banks, etc, wherever they go. Google Maps also has indoor maps, 3D maps as well as offline support for users with Android 2.3 supporting handsets. And the best part - one can also save up to five different map pieces for viewing later on, even without an internet connection.

Navfree

Navfree provides users with free turn by turn navigation along with spoken and on-screen instructions, thus allowing for utmost accuracy in reaching the destination. This navigation app also allows users to save their chosen maps onto a memory card or on the device itself, for easy access whenever and wherever while journeying, even in the absence of an internet connection. This also means that users don’t incur any roaming charges outside their city limits.

Users can download Navfree maps from the Navfree Store onto compatible Android handsets. The map data is sourced from OpenStreetMap an open-source map data service, which is continually updated and improved by over 400,000 users around the world. Users can also search for addresses using live search powered by Microsoft Bing and Google.