First look at the HERE beta navigation app for Android

HERE is probably not a name that the average consumer recognizes.  However, most consumers are likely familiar with HERE's product. Their mapping products are found in the majority of in-dash navigation systems in the US and customers may have even purchased map updates from them at the navigation.com website without recognizing the HERE brand.

If you've used a Garmin, Navigon or Magellan GPS then you are a HERE customer and likely didn't know it.  HERE's maps power devices by those PND brands.

HERE seems to be making a push to establish themselves as a brand that consumers identify with. Having primarily been a B2B (business-to-business) brand, HERE finds themselves fighting for their survival against the powerful ecosystems that Google and Apple have created.

They share that fight with their historical business customers.  Both in-dash and PND navigation face huge challenges from the smartphone that contains Google Maps, Apple Maps, Waze and other free alternatives.  But the challenge for HERE is more than just a smartphone vs in-dash fight since soon Google and Apple will be making a play for the in-dash space as well through bluetooth-linked smartphone / in-dash hybrid telematics solutions known as Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.  This is becoming a war of ecosystems and presents a monumental challenge for HERE.  Establishing credible consumer brand recognition is a good first step.

HERE's challenge is enough on it's own but unfortunately for HERE they've also been part of changing corporate bureaucracies which is tough for any company trying to be laser-focused on their goals.  Long in the hands of Phillips, HERE was known as Navteq in the hayday of PND's (and as NavTech before that).  Around 2007, Navteq was purchased by Nokia and got caught up in Nokia's disintegration which took nearly 5 years to play out.  Oh what might have been!  In 2012 Navteq became HERE (the only thing left now of what was once Nokia) as the Nokia brand marched towards the storied end in 2014 after Microsoft's purchase of the remaining pieces.  Got that?

The purpose of explaining that history is that in same ways, to the consumer, the emergence of the new HERE consumer brand really does represent something new.  Perhaps, give their tumultuous history, that is exactly what HERE needs - a fresh start.

What does their first attempt at this fresh start look like?

HERE for Android is a navigation play that competes head-to-head for the same customer as Google Maps and Waze.  HERE brings one significant advantage though, offline maps, providing users with the ability to use navigation without a data connection.  Whether you are out of mobile phone range or out of mobile data allotment, offline maps can be an important option to have.

HERE is certainly not the first to offer offline maps for Android.  Scout (Telenav) offers offline maps (now using OpenStreetMap) as does ALK Copilot, TomTom and Sygic (using TomTom maps).  Interestingly, HERE was beat to Android in recent months by one of their own customers, Garmin with the viago app. It is a crowded market to enter in 2014 but there can be no argument that HERE enters it with one of the most well respected maps datasets available (albeit one that most consumers have never heard of).  Check out my 8-device road test from back in 2012 where Navteq-powered Garmin killed the competition.

It is important to note that you don't have to download the HERE maps.  HERE works just fine as an online solution as well, sending the maps to your smartphone over your data connection.

HERE does a nice job of allowing flexibility in which maps to download.  The storage needed to store maps is tremendous so you are going to need a smartphone with lots of capacity (or an external SD card) to download a lot of maps offline. The entire US for example is nearly 5 GB but luckily HERE allows you to pick individual States for much more modest sized downloads.  It is curious how much bigger the HERE maps are compared to the Garmin viago maps.  It makes me wonder what else is in the HERE map dataset that we just aren't seeing yet with the immature feature set of the HERE beta app.

My experience with the HERE beta app so far has been that the app is very fluid, fast and stable.  I've had no crashes, lock-ups or stuttering.  The map is cleanly presented on the screen in a readable way. It does a nice job of showing road classes using distinct color.  You can compare the HERE map with Google Maps:

HERE

Google Maps

HERE offers three different map views in addition to the view shown above: Traffic, Transit and Satellite views.

HERE map view options

Google Maps has made huge strides in presenting traffic directly on the map in recent versions and thankfully HERE has tried to the do the same thing by showing the actual traffic flow on the map.  In my opinion, Google does a better job of presenting traffic flow while still preserving the color differentiation between various road classes.  When turning traffic view on, HERE's map tends to get too muted for my taste but this is strictly a personal preference.

HERE w/ traffic view on

Google Maps w/ traffic view on.

Notice the granularity difference in the traffic flow between Google and HERE.  It is tough to make an accuracy argument between the two but there is no question that Google Maps is purporting to know more about the current traffic conditions over a wider range of roads than HERE is.  Again - accuracy can be debated.

It the current beta version the HERE maps offers a pretty bare bones navigation experience. Here is a look at HERE's main app menu:

HERE menu in MAPS mode

It is nice to see HERE making some attempts to be consistent with the "Android experience" in terms of app UI.  Unfortunately that is only true for the MAPS functionality of the app.  Clicking into DRIVE mode on the menu above feels like you are using a completely different app.  The "close to Android-standard feel" is abandoned for this:

Setting in DRIVE mode.

And worse yet, the DRIVE mode settings button brings up a different-but-the-same settings menu that duplicates some of the settings in the MAPS mode settings but presents them with a different UI.  It is like two different teams developed MAPS and DRIVE and then put the two pieces together in the app.

Here is what the MAPS mode settings menu looks like:

MAPS settings menu

Here is what the DRIVE mode settings menu looks like:

DRIVE mode settings

Different fonts. Different text sizes. Different colors. The problems here are numerous and obvious.  Note that the MAPS settings menu above actually has a Navigation setting too (why, when you also have DRIVE settings?).  Worse, the same items are present in both menus but called different things.

In the MAPS menu it is called Voice Navigation but in the DRIVE menu it is called Voice Options.  They control the same thing.  In the MAPS menu Day/night view has it's own option but in the DRIVE menu it is buried within the Map options menu.

Worse, despite both menus having some of the same functionality the UI for that common setting is different depending upon which menu you started in.

This setting fiasco distracts from an otherwise pretty decent app and I simply don't understand it.  I've used a ton of PND's and navigation apps over the years and I can't think of a single reason why there needs to be two different settings menus within the same app.

Hang with me because this is by far their worst of the app.  It gets better from here (for HERE!).

There are the usual suspects present in the Route Options setting but strangely missing is commuter lanes.  I am not sure why, but I hope that finds itself into the app quickly, as it is an irreplaceable feature found in both TomTom's and Garmin's Android apps.

No commuter lane route options

Searching in the app
The main map screen has a search field.  HERE did a great job with the search field, making it a universal search.  You can type in an address, a POI name or a category and it will show you the results.  This is well done.  It is a giant leap forward from Garmin's archaic address entry system in their viago app that requires you to separately enter the house number, street name, city and state like you had to do 10 years ago in a Garmin PND.  Bravo HERE, for implementing universal search.

In this version, universal search does not include your contacts sadly.  I hope that we see this feature added in a future version.  That does not mean that you can't easily use HERE to navigate to a contact though.  Thankfully, even in this early beta, HERE has registered the app as an Android intent handler, which means it is one of the apps available to "handle your intent" when you click on an address in a 3rd party app.  In this screen shot, I clicked on an address in my Nexus 5's People app (you could do the same in your calendar or Yelp or TripAdvisor, etc.) and HERE is one of the apps that can fulfill my request when clicking on the address:

HERE as an Android intent handler option

In all of my attempts, HERE accurately parsed the address that I sent it from 3rd party apps.  When you combine this with Android's ability to search apps from the homescreen's search box you can get addresses from 3rd party productivity apps into HERE pretty quickly.

Whether you have searched from within the HERE app, or passed HERE an address from a 3rd party app, this is screen that you are shown once you have found a single search result:

HERE search results

One criticism of HERE is that from this screen, it takes way too many clicks to actually start navigating.  Your path to begin navigation is to click the "two-headed arrow" near the bottom right.  HERE needs to take a play from Google Map's playback:  if I long-press on this two-headed arrow (rather than single press it) HERE needs to immediately begin navigation to the best route HERE selects using a default navigation method (auto, transit or walking).  At this point in time, it does not provide this feature.  Instead, upon clicking the arrow you come to this screen:

Route options screen

On this screen you are presented with multiple route options as well as options to pick your means of travel (auto, mass transit or walking).  These are all great options.  I am merely making the point that there should be a streamlined way to bypass all of this for routine auto routes using the default settings.

Also in the screen above you can see that there is an ability to change your "don't include" route restrictions as well as go to settings.  (I wonder which settings menu THIS will take me to?)

Your path to navigation continues by clicking the route you desire from the screen above.  Unfortunately, you are still not quite ready to navigate though.  For some reason HERE has decided to visually show me the routes that were just shown to me in a list in the prior screen.

A second route selection screen

Similar to my complaint about duplicate settings menus, now HERE is showing me basically the same information on this screen as the screen before only in a graphical format.  By sliding the black section of the screen to the left, the second route option's information is displayed. There is nothing wrong with this screen.  It is presented clearly and conveys meaningful information.  However, it duplicates information that I was just shown in a previous screen and it further delays the start of my navigation experience.

Personally, I'd much prefer coming directly to this screen. I like pictures so I like to see the visual representation of the route options.  Should I desire to change to transit or walking then I'd gladly hit a button here to take me to that selection, but I'd rather not waste a step being presented with that every single time I calculate a route.

Google Maps has figured out an elegant way to present the content of both of these redundant HERE screens on a single screen and quickly begin navigation.  I hope that HERE spends some time optimizing this in the app.

I've noticed some very strange results when searching for places rather than addresses.  For example, I often receive no results when searching for things that are plentiful in my area.

No Eat & Drink near me?

No place to Go Out?

It also only found a single result when I entered the word "mall" in the search field.  The one result it did find was a quality search result because the place doesn't actually have the word "mall" in the name but it is the showcase mall in the metro.  However, it didn't find other malls in the immediate area that actually contain "mall" in their name.

Only found one place when searching "mall"

However, when I searched specifically for "Merle Hay Mall" and "Valley West Mall" then they were located when they could not be found when searching only for the word "mall."

Not found when searching only for "mall"

Also not found when searching only for "mall"

Other searches worked as expected.  Here is an example of the results of searching for "subway."  It shows the closest one by default and you can swipe the banner at the bottom to the left to cycle through the search results.

The navigation map is well done.  It is fluid and presents the information clearly.

Navigation screen

There is very limited functionality available during navigation in this current beta iteration.  When you click on the information bar at the bottom of the navigation screen these are your options:

Navigation mode options

The "show" icon is a toggle for traffic flow lines, "Customize" takes you to a setting menu that allows you to customize the information shown on the screen while navigating (and while "roving" the map without navigating as HERE calls it).

You can also activate a new "alternate route" calculation manually from this screen which is nice to see.  I have not yet faced a routing situation where traffic has created a different, quicker route so I can't comment on how the app handles that situation.

Additional Features (or not)
The list of features not yet in this beta app is long.  You won't find any PND features such as detours, route avoidance or via points.  The app doesn't support multi-stop routes.  I haven't seen any evidence of signpost imagery or lane guidance.

I have experienced the 3D buildings and found the app to be extremely quick and fluid in displaying the building models.

When browsing the map, the map is "live" in terms of being able to long-press anywhere on the map and receive the address of that location (ready to begin navigation) just like you had searched for that location.

Any location (place, address, etc.) can be saved to a "Collection" or "favorite" as I typically think of it.  Collections can be categorized as desired.

You can also share any location that you have selected within the app.  Sharing can be via the standard Android sharing options but the HERE app has a special bonus.  You can also share through built-in Glympse functionality. While this is a nice feature, I hope that the integration between HERE and Glympse improves.  As it exists today, you must select the amount of time to share through Glympse just like if you were using the standalone app.  However, this is a navigation app.  The app knows my ETA. The app should be able to share through Glympse until I've arrived at my destination without me having to manually adjust the time.

Lastly, there is no functionality in the current version of the app to display POI's outside of a search. I like to travel with gas station, food and rest stop POI's visible on the map.  That option doesn't exist in the app yet.

There is no ability to download maps in the background while doing other things in the app.  Leave the screen and you cancel your download.  On initial map download be prepared to give up use of your device for awhile.

Incremental Map Updates!!!!!
HERE deserves a massive round of applause for introducing incremental map updates in the app.  That means that users can download new map content to the app but only have to download the portion of the map that is new or changed.  Say goodbye to the days of downloading massive 5GB map updates every time there is an update.  Incremental map updates was something that I blogged about back in 2012 and it is great to finally see someone implement it.  I have not yet read anything that confirms how often incremental map updates will be available or if we'll have to periodically download full map datasets every so often with incremental updates in between (similar to TomTom's MapShare program and ALK's MapSure method).  I hope not, but we will see.  Having small incremental map updates available every couple weeks goes a long ways towards competing with the near instantaneous nature of Google's MapMaker program.

Final Thoughts
One item that HERE should clarify is exactly how offline mode works.  It appears, though I have no way of knowing, that the app is either 100% online or 100% offline.  The confusion stems from the warning received when activating "Use app offline."  This warning indicates that the data connection will not be used.  Does this mean that when I am online and using the data connection (i.e., for traffic, search, etc.) that I am also being served ONLINE maps rather than the maps that I've already downloaded?

My preferred mode of use would be to use the downloaded maps where I've downloaded them irrespective of whether I am in online or offline mode.  I'd prefer to use offline maps where I have then and still use the data connection for traffic, search, etc.  I'd only want to use online maps in areas where I haven't downloaded any maps.  This would lighten the data load but still make data available for other uses within the app.

It is unclear how this works and I hope HERE will clarify.

Conclusion:
This app has good bones.  The app is extremely fluid, fast, clean and stable.  The map is very readable. It seems to be a great base to build from.  I think HERE needs to clean up the horribly confusing two-settings menus issue.  I also hope that they quickly streamline the steps it takes to actually begin navigation.  Contact integration is something that I hope is coming soon. And the "must have" feature if you are going to effectively compete with Google Maps is voice recognition.  Interestingly Google just announced that Google Now will have ability to be used with 3rd party apps.  That might present a great opportunity (combined with HERE's universal search feature) to make the primary interface to HERE your voice.  That would be huge.

The app has a long way to go in terms of features if the goal is a PND-like experience on our smartphone.  But lucky for HERE, in my opinion, NO ONE in this space has nailed it yet.  Everyone comes close but falls short of "my perfect solution." HERE has a chance.

Over time, I could see this app earning some dedicated storage on my phone.  I hope that this is successful enough to continue to get development resources because competition is good for the consumer.

Garmin surprises with Android navigation app "viago" - First Impressions

Garmin, once unquestionably the navigation leader, has an interesting way of trying to keep itself relevant. Of late it seems that Garmin does so right about the time you almost stop thinking about them.  This week is no exception.

Garmin has finally made a real Android play by releasing a standalone Android app called viago.  Garmin has dabbled with Android before when it created the defunct nuvifone.   At that time Garmin couldn't shake their fixation on producing hardware.  Many of us argued that the Garmin name wasn't strong enough to dictate the consumer's smartphone hardware and mobile carrier choice and eventually that reality played out. The nuvifone was discontinued.  Many critics said Garmin needed to start thinking like a software developer.  After having an iOS app for some time Garmin appears to be moving into the pure software development world head-on with this new Android play.

I've downloaded and used the viago app for a short time.  I've explored the features and settings.  I've taken some drives.  The viago app is a nice looking, solid v1.0 entry into the market.  The problem is that this is a v1.0 entry and it is 2014.  This app would be a great play if it were 2012.  It isn't.  For that reason, it underwhelms given where Garmin's competitors are at with their product plays.

Competitors Google Maps, TomTom, Waze, Scout (Telenav), MapQuest, CoPilot and Sygic are all multiple generations into their product offerings.  I'd expect the supposed industry leader, when it finally makes a market play, to do so with force - to blow away the current offerings with something new, fresh and unique.  Instead, what Garmin has given us is a "me too" app that lacks in basic features.  At the same time, they include things that attempt to differentiate like Real Directions.  What good is that kind of differentiation however, when you haven't nailed the basics yet?

Lacking in basically features is fully expected with a 1.0 product some will argue.  Unfortunately with Garmin being this late to the game, they needed this 2014 release to be their 2.0 attempt.  A 1.0 release from Garmin doesn't cut it in 2014.

I'll hit the deal-breaker (for me) first.  Garmin has failed to register the viago app as an Android intent handler for any 3rd party apps.  Intent handling (the ability to open one app with specific content obtained from another app) is the beauty of Android smartphones.  It is also a fantastic feature in every Android navigation app I've used (and I've used every one of those mentioned above).  All of them allow you to click on an address in Contacts, Calendar, Yelp, Tripadvisor, etc., and pick their navigation app as the destination of that address search.  You get one-click navigation to that address with the navigation app of your choice.  Sadly, Garmin has missed the boat on that important feature.  I clicked on an address in my Contact app and the image below is what I received.  (I've removed most of the navigation apps noted above from my phone).  Garmin viago is not listed as a choice and that is a huge oversight.  Who decides to release this without that simple, core Android feature?

Garmin's viago not shown as an Android intent handler

The next biggest "what are they thinking" issue with viago is that it doesn't have "Search Along Route" functionality.  Granted, this is a missing feature in Google Maps too, but Google Maps is free.  It doesn't have to be better, it just has to be "good enough" to beat Garmin.  The comparison is TomTom, CoPilot, Scout, and the other paid apps.  All of them have this important feature and Garmin decided to leave it out for this v1.0 release.  I can't attempt to understand the logic of that decision.

Yet, Garmin did decide to implement a trip planner where you can enter multiple via points along a route to your destination.  Now, my typical use of a trip planner may be different than the norm, but I like to calculate a route from my origin to my destination.  From there, I like to "search along the route" just calculated to find gas stations, food stops, hotels, or maybe even attractions along the way.  Alas, there is no way to do that because Garmin left out search along the route.  Perhaps others use the trip planner in another way but I find that it completely misses the mark without this search capability.

Visually, I like this app.  It is clean and the user interface has the potential to be straightforward.

The nicely done UI of Garmin viago

I don't like how Garmin has split up various features and settings between two different menus.  The traditional Android menu (the three horizontal lines at the top right) doesn't actually contain Settings.  Instead, Garmin has placed settings in a second menu that is accessible by clicking on the blue triangle in the upper left.  I can see the upper left blue triangle being the place to put navigation specific commands and features but it should not contain Settings (or Shop or Tools), especially when Garmin is also using the standard Android menu symbol.  If they are going to use it, then that is where you should put Settings.

This is all Garmin is using the standard Android menu for:

Garmin's use of Android's standard menu command

Clicking on the Traffic option gives you an incident list.

Traffic incident list

It is disappointing to find that you can't see traffic incidents when casually browsing an area overview map.

No traffic shown at the scale of a metro overview map

Compare this to Google Maps which allows you to see an entire metro area's traffic situation at a glance:

Google Maps, in comparison, nicely shows overall traffic conditions on a metro overview map

The traffic information that is displayed during a route was not a great experience.  As you can see in the image below, the traffic information area takes up a lot of screen real estate.  When you combine that with the inefficient use of space for the next turn text you end up with a very small map area.  There is an blue 'x' next to the display of the current street (106th St) but when you click on it instead of closing the current street line it closes the traffic section instead.

The UI becomes much less functional and the map much smaller, with traffic content displayed

I've tried to understand the traffic bar implementation on this app and I just can't make sense of it.  Clearly I understand that there are 2 traffic incidents that are causing a 2 minute delay.  However, I don't understand the information being conveyed in the traffic bar that contains the yellow line.  If the traffic bar represents my total route and the yellow bar represents the "location" of the traffic slow down along my route then it would be helpful if the bar actually moved while I progressed on the route.  It didn't though.  It stayed static.   So I really have no idea where that yellow section was compared to my actual location in the route.  I also am not sure if the yellow bar and the orange symbol represent 2 different incidents or not?  Is the yellow bar traffic flow data while the orange banner is a construction incident?  I also don't know if the 1 mile represents the distance that the construction is away from me now, the distance the construction is away from the start of my route or the length of the construction "section" in the road itself?  It is a very confusing implementation of traffic given that there is no movement of or along the bar while driving.

Below is a screen shot that is even more confusing.  I am 0.2 miles from my destination (literally about 1 minute).  There is no construction or traffic involved in the route any longer.  Yet, the display still shows 2 traffic issues with a 2 minute delay.  It no longer shows the yellow bar but does show the orange construction icon.  None of this makes any sense to me.  Why is it showing traffic that is in the past?  It doesn't mean anything to me any more because I'm already through it.  I just am not understanding Garmin's thought process on how they are presenting traffic information at all.

Very confusing traffic implementation showing traffic conditions in the past

For comparison, here is Google's presentation along the same route.  There is quite a difference in the space made available for the map.  To each their own on this issue but I don't believe that Garmin has done much to optimize their use of screen real estate, mainly due to the unnecessary amount of space dedicated to the traffic information.

Google Maps' use of screen real estate as a comparison

This is what is found in Garmin's blue triangle menu.  They've got the placement of Tools, Shop and Settings in the wrong menu in my opinion and I hope they change it.

Garmin's blue triangle menu options

My Destinations is the place to find your saved favorites as well as your recently found destinations.  Contacts is a nice feature to see however it was implemented without search capability so it is almost useless.  The only option within Contacts is to browse a list - useless for someone with hundreds or thousands of contacts.

I did use the Contacts feature of the app though and browsed to various contacts.  It failed 100% of the time to reconcile the address.  These addresses are in the Android People app found on the Nexus 5 with Android 4.4.3 and the People app is synchronized to an Exchange server.  The screenshot below shows one contact that I tried which, like all my other contacts, reconciles nicely in Google Maps.

Reconciling a Contact's address in Google Maps

However, like every other contact I tried, the address did not reconcile in Garmin's viago app.  It appears that Garmin is not parsing the address text correctly and is attempting to put the entire address in the street name cell.  Of course this wouldn't be an issue at all if Garmin wasn't using such an archaic means of address entry in the first place.

Garmin's viago can't parse the same Contact

Settings offers a nice selection of things to avoid on the route.  The inclusion of carpool lanes is a big plus and an omission from Google Maps (but not TomTom) that is very convenient in a few major cities.  I much prefer the TomTom implementation to avoidances though.  TomTom asks you on every route if it detects that item on the route during calculation.  This approach matches reality as there are some routes that I know about an unpaved road or a toll and I also know the consequences of avoiding them.  I will decide to use those items for that route while wanting to avoid them completely on a different route.  TomTom is unique in that regard.   All other vendors, including this Garmin viago app require you to change the settings each time in order to have that flexibility.

Navigation avoidance options

The shortcomings of this app begin to be evident as soon as you start exploring the navigation features within the blue triangle menu.  Selecting the "Where To?" option brings up a very nuvi-familiar list of choices:

Garmin viago's Where To? menu options

I was disappointed to see that the Address entry process was an old-school process of separate text-entry fields for each portion of the address.  Yes, that is correct. Despite knowing the ease of address entry in other products that have been available on Android for a long time, the screenshot below is what you get to "fill out" when using Garmin viago.  To make matters worse, there is no text auto-complete so you can't start typing and have the app start to guess the remainder of what you intend to enter.  You must type the whole thing.  Only then, after filling out this 2010 style form do you get to see if what you entered is in the database when you go to the next screen.  Quite frankly I'm stunned that Garmin settled for this archaic method of address entry in this product.  Why viago is not a robust voice recognition platform as its main user interface is beyond me.

It is hard to understand the thought process, when you know that you can literally speak "OK Google, Navigate to 123 Main Street in Anytown, IA" when using Google Maps (and not much more than that with Waze), that someone inside Garmin decided that the method of address entry below was worthy of going live with in 2014.  Stunningly misguided.

Garmin's address entry process

This screenshot is a nice representation of the screen while navigating during a calculated route.  You can see the route statistics at the top (see below for how this can be customized).  You can also see that traffic is being reported within the app and shown on the map.  I've turned on the display of some POI's on the map (you can see the gas station icon).  This does not appear to be working as described by the menus however.  More on that below.  You can also see the speed limit and my current speed.

A nice UI displaying many pieces of information

The three route statistics at the top of the screen are user selectable.  The choices include:

Customization of route statistics in the map view

There are a couple of disappointments to note when looking at the map above.  First, the POI's are not selectable from the map.  Think about driving down the freeway and wanting some lunch.  There is no way to see the Food icon, click it, and see what restaurant it is.  The POI's are displayed and are not interactive.  And of course with no "search along route" functionality, you can't determine what any of those POI's really are when navigating.

The menu shows the screen where you can select the POI categories to show on the map.  You can see the phrase "Unselect All" which implies more than one could be selected.  However, when you select one category from the menu below, it deselects the previously one selected.  That makes little sense given the wording of this menu and is likely a bug that needs to be fixed.

A potential bug prevents multiple POI categories from being selected

You can also display POI categories on the map while browsing the map without navigating.  However, this feels like a feature that isn't finished.  First, the categories don't have visually recognizable icons.  Instead, they have this meaningless blue icon seen below.  Worse, when you click on the blue dot it doesn't tell you what the POI is.  It simple shows the latitude and longitude which is completely worthless.

Like the POI issue show below, you can also long press anywhere on the map to select a location. However, when pressing on a road, Garmin does not reverse geocode that location and display an address.  It only shows the latitude / longitude.  Reverse geocoding and showing the address would be a much more user friendly feature.

Useless display of POI's in map browsing mode

Even when clicking on the 'i' icon you still are not given anything useful.  Here is the result of that click:

Additional info is not helpful

You'll notice in the image above that the standard Android menu icon is present in the Destination screen.  Here is what you get when you click it in this screen though:

Inconsistent menu content results in nothing displayed

Clicking on the speed limit graphic on the map, I expected to be given a menu to indicate an incorrect speed limit.  Instead, I was given the setting below, which is an odd place to hide a setting.  Why not just include it in the main setting menu?  I set this to on, then proceeded to speed up to 50 mph and was not given an alert.

A random setting that doesn't appear to work and isn't in the main app Settings

So, where do I think this Garmin viago v1.0 app positions itself at launch?  It will make Garmin enthusiasts who still use their nuvi but wish they didn't have to very happy.  Google Maps, Waze, Scout and MapQuest users will be underwhelmed by the archaic text entry interface and lack of any voice recognition features.  TomTom users will find the feature set (such as lack of detours, multiple route options, etc.) to be unimpressive.  In the end that leaves Garmin joining the Android club without outmaneuvering anyone and not capturing anyone's attention other than customers that need offline navigation or who still navigate to Garmin for the name.  That is a small and shrinking audience.  The situation will just get worse upon the release of some new competitor's app updates that are currently in beta.  If Garmin was swinging for the fences with viago's release - they missed.

Did Google put Waze functionality in Google Maps 8.0?

Most commentators were pretty excited by the improvements made to Google Maps for Android 8.0.  Having spent over 13 hours with the update this weekend on a 700+ mile trip I can say that this update is nothing short of extraordinary. The biggest reason for my enthusiasm is a feature that appears to be unadvertised.

While not the focus on my blog post, the lane guidance feature is truly unreal.  I was expecting lane guidance on major freeways in major cities.  What we got instead is lane guidance on local roads in small to midsize towns.  Outstanding!

Lane guidance on local roads!

Now, on to the good stuff....

I am convinced that Google Maps for Android now includes traffic rerouting technology from Waze!

In previous versions, Google Maps included the ability to show multiple routes and to reroute if a quicker route was available (apparently with a 5 minute threshold). In my experience with this however was that this was not a very granule feature.  Before a route was offered as an option the alternative route seemed to have to differ from the original by a fairly significant minimum "threshold percentage" before it was offered as an alternative.  On long trips of several hundred miles, that meant that very small route diversions were never offered because the diversion was too statistically similar to the original route.

Something appears to have changed in version 8. My suspicion is that Google has included some Waze technology into their traffic rerouting algorithm.  Before we get to the reason for my suspicion let's look at the significant change in how Google handles traffic and route options in the new version.

First, Google now displays live traffic conditions on the main map while navigating. That is a huge, welcome change in my opinion.

Second, multiple route options are both automatically displayed and manually available on the main map screen. From my experience this weekend these route options do not appear to be static in any way. They appear to be very dynamic route options, constantly reevaluated using the latest traffic information and also route progress.   As you get closer to your destination the available route options are made more granular as you progress.

Here is a graphic that shows the automatic route options that are displayed on the map as you drive. As traffic conditions change, as you approach an optional route, you'll see right on the map what your options are. Faster options are displayed as are options that are slower.  If you like a presented option you simply click on the banner that says "faster" or "slower."

Alternative routes offered in a local situation

Alternative route offered in a citywide routing situation

The same route options are available in more of an overview perspective by clicking the route button on the map. This allows you to see the route options at your leisure and not wait until you are close upon the maneuver for the automatic display of the option on the map screen.

One huge downside right now is that Google provides no audible alert that a faster route option is being presented. You just have to watch the map. I hope that changes quickly.

Now, on to the reason why I think version 8 includes some Waze technology....I was on a route from Des Moines to Chicago this weekend. That is 300+ miles and there really isn't much of any route choice. I-80 in Iowa is pretty much it. Prior versions of Google Maps would show you options but they were pretty nonsensical such as using US-30 for example.  Slower traffic on I-80 usually meant waiting it out on I-80 because the alternative route such as US-30 is so far out of the way.

On this trip, only about 60 miles into the trip I received a Google Now notification of a Waze-reported accident on I-80. Upon reviewing Google Maps, I was now being shown a 12 mile detour off of I-80 onto county roads, starting before the freeway backup and putting me back on I-80 at the first entrance ramp after the wreck. The detour was 7 minutes faster than sitting in the I-80 traffic.

I've experienced these types of slow downs on I-80 before and I've never had Google Maps offer such a small detour like this. In the past it seemed that these kinds of small detours were not statistically different enough from the original route to he offered by Google.

It seems that now we finally have a real and useful tool to navigate real world traffic problems and my bet is that Google is using technology from Waze to get it accomplished.