A completely free turn-by-turn navigation app, skobbler, has just been released for the iPhone. skobbler is powered and continually updated by CloudMade which uses User made maps to keep you from getting lost.
What makes this app exciting, other than the fact that it is free, is that the maps provided by CloudMade are completely user made. Users are urged by the company to make maps of their own neighborhood, which joins the OpenStreetMap community. Users using the map can (if they find a mistake), send a report to the community stating that something is amiss or they can fix it themselves; these updates take only 24 hours to be implemented. The more updates, the better the map and resulting navigation.
“Users who add new map content or edit OpenStreetMap are helping to build a market-changing navigation solution,” says skobbler co-founder Marcus Theilking. “Although we know we’re not quite ready to challenge the expensive premium navigation solutions, we’ll quickly get there.”
Source: skobbler
About the Author
Ransler Dier writes for TECHi about AI and technology, stocks and markets, and commodities and energy. Their TECHi archive includes 64 published pieces from 2010, with coverage grounded in the topics, sources, and recurring themes in their bylines. Representative bylines include "16 Techi-rific Google Logo Doodles", "Lists For The Masses By The Masses", "Find Out How Insignificant You Are On The Web!".
