NAVIGATION APP

Garmin's Thailand-specific navigation app launched

Asina Pornwasin

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Garmin Corporation yesterday launched its Thailand-specific StreetPilot Onboard navigation application starting with Apple's iOS platform.

"It is possible that StreetPilot Onboard will [also] be on the Android platform," said Jay Shen, business development director for the Asia-Pacific region.

The company has joined with US-based map supplier Navteq to provide the navigation service for smart phones, he said.

The market for portable navigation devices still has a lot of room, but demand is gradually dropping. The company believes it has to diversify to maintain its business by moving into the new area of providing navigation services on smart phones.

Garmin's StreetPilot Onboard is already in North America, Europe and some markets in Asia including Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia.

A couple of million people are already using the app in these markets.

The standard price of the Thai version of StreetPilot Onboard is US$29.99 (Bt942), but it is now available for the special price of $19.99 by downloading it until July 8.

"This price is a one-time purchase. Users will get updated versions of this app without paying anything extra. But this app is designed for each country, so if users go abroad, they have to download a different version of StreetPilot Onboard, such as the US version and the Europe version," Shen said.

The app is usable offline, but it also lets users access some features online such as weather forecasts.

The main features are voice prompting; turn-by-turn directions including street names and real-time traffic updates; three-dimensional building graphics to assist with situational awareness while navigating; lane assist featuring Garmin's photoReal junction views; integrated Facebook, foursquare and Wikipedia locations; and integrated Google Local Search.

-- The Nation 2012-06-21

Not available on the app store yet

Its in the Thailand store just seen it.

Does anyone know if it is available in dual language ? (Thai & English)

Does anyone know if it is available in dual language ? (Thai & English)

In the description is stated that supports dual languages on map: English and Thai.

They say it's Thai and English. http://itunes.apple.com/th/app/garmin-thailand/id524258843?mt=8

Good value at that price.

I just read an article about this. It says that the phone applications are now on par with the dedicated Garmin devices. If that is the case, they still need to do a lot of work and I fear that Thailand is not a priority because there simply is not enough demand here.

The Thailand Street Map, formerly ESRI, is a much better map. Yes, I have both. The Garmin map is seriously lacking as far as outdated points points of interest and newer road coverage. I also found some routing problems.

I'm not anti Garmin. I have four Garmin devices and I think they are great but the Garmin mapping leaves much to be desired.

I wonder if the app reads an .img file in which case it might be possible to replace the substandard Garmin map with the ESRI one.

Ah, yes! There are tutorials available on the internet that describes how to install other maps to use with the software. I won't link to the one I found here as the web site also has links to download pirated maps on it.

Edited June 21, 201214 yr by jamiesensei

Not available on the app store yet

It sure is ! have just bought and downloading I also have both Maps, So if it is not as Good as Esri will see about swapping the Map, not too hard, just time consuming, but at the price i have paid it is good Value

Edited June 21, 201214 yr by pattayapip

I just read an article about this. It says that the phone applications are now on par with the dedicated Garmin devices. If that is the case, they still need to do a lot of work and I fear that Thailand is not a priority because there simply is not enough demand here.

The Thailand Street Map, formerly ESRI, is a much better map. Yes, I have both. The Garmin map is seriously lacking as far as outdated points points of interest and newer road coverage. I also found some routing problems.

I'm not anti Garmin. I have four Garmin devices and I think they are great but the Garmin mapping leaves much to be desired.

Edited June 21, 201214 yr by Anon999

ESRI are normally very Good, They have their maps on my Toyota, the only problem with that is they are under license to Toyota and you need to go through Toyota for any map update, which is not only massively more expensive, but you just cannot find anyone at Toyota who know anything about it ! That is why i learned to update myself, The hardest part of all the process is finding the ID# of your SD card, then its easy

I checked today at 8:30pm pst at the app store and it is there for $19,.95 US and yes, it states that it does both English and Thai.

A bit late, IOS 6 which will be out soon has the feature for free, besides if you want to have a decent GPS you have it build in your car. Not a funny box or phone but sitting in your dashboard.

A bit late, IOS 6 which will be out soon has the feature for free, besides if you want to have a decent GPS you have it build in your car. Not a funny box or phone but sitting in your dashboard.

Yes but the Siri or what ever it's gonna be called are not offline maps if I'm correct??? Like TomTom, Garmin and Sygic

Posted Today, 10:42

CDNinKS, on Today, 08:44 , said:

Not available on the app store yet

It sure is ! have just bought and downloading I also have both Maps, So if it is not as Good as Esri will see about swapping the Map, not too hard, just time consuming, but at the price i have paid it is good Value

Well at 8:44 am it was not there, but downloading it now

Anyone gave it a go yet? I would but am over seas at the mo.

I am overseas at the moment as well but checked the map and was surprised that our soi was depicted.....none of the other maps I have show it. That's a good sign I think.....

May be just me being stupid and not knowing how to use the app but I tried to map Bangkok to Pattaya and they told me no listing for Pattaya. How is this?

^ Could be spelling. Try Banglamung or even Phattaya.

Jomtien for example I've seen spelled like: Chomtian, Jomtian, Chomtien etc etc