Google Taiwan launched its enhanced mapping system yesterday, which it said could turn cellphones into personal navigation systems.
Fewer than 10 countries in the world offer total comprehensiveness on their nation’s Google Maps enhanced version, including the US, Japan, Australia, China and some European countries, the Internet search giant said yesterday.
Google Taiwan’s proprietary software allows mobile phone users to download and use Google maps on their handsets as well as identify their locations, the company said.
The technology uses satellite towers, radio wave signals and a set of complicated calculations to pinpoint a user’s location, Andy Cheng (鄭依恒), a software engineer from Google Taiwan’s research and development center, told a media briefing.
CONSUMER REQUESTS
“After a full year of hard work our team of five engineers finally perfected the map to incorporate many of our users’ needs,” Cheng said.
“We are proud to present a map service that includes all the modes of transportation, and all the routes and combinations possible — walking, driving, buses, rapid transit and train. Many countries with enhanced map versions only have such comprehensiveness in localized areas, such as a city or a county, but ours covers the entire country,” he said.
For the enhanced version, Google Taiwan partnered with iPeen (愛評網), Digwow (好康挖挖哇), web 2.0 food, entertainment and shopping user recommendation and feedback sites, Taiwanese weather provider TenkiMaps (全球天氣) and TomTom NV, the world’s biggest maker of portable navigation devices.
BILINGUAL
The bilingual edition of Google Taiwan Map incorporates Google’s search word functions and inputs recommendations based on characters typed.
The Web site also allows for changes in modes of transportation, changes in routes and any type of possible combinations to provide up-to-the-minute route suggestions.
“In one year’s time, Google maps reached 46.4 percent arrival rate. With this enhanced version, we have incorporated 15,000 kilometers of route information, long enough to wrap the earth four times” Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰), engineering director at Google research and development in Taiwan and Hong Kong, said, citing a survey of 5,000 respondents who were asked about their online searches over the past six months.
The survey found that 46.4 percent of respondents had visited a Google map Web site.
“The robustness of this map service really needs to experienced firsthand” Chien said.
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