Navigon Adds Augmented Reality to Navigation Apps

By Joel Mathis, MacworldNavigon has upgraded its line of MobileNavigator apps for the iPhone and iPad with new augmented reality features, along with new in-app add-ons that let drivers avoid heavy traffic and red-light cameras.

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The most prominent feature of the updated navigation apps launched on Thursday is the new "Reality Scanner." Users can point their camera-enabled device in the direction of the path they're taking, and icons pop up onto the viewscreen, indicating landmarks and other locations such bars and hotels. It's a feature that's helpful to those of us who can get lost walking past the same address three or four times before we realize that's where we're supposed to be.

Two new in-app purchases are also available in the updated navigation app. "Safety Cameras" costs $5, and alerts drivers to speed and red-light cameras along their path. "Traffic Live" costs $15 and offers live updates about traffic ahead, along with suggested alternate routes. (The new features join the $8 Zagat reviews and $10 Panorama 3D viewer as in-app purchase options.) The app also includes updated maps, to ensure it does not lead travelers astray.

The American and Canadian versions of MobileNavigator are $35 each. Regional editions--for the eastern, central, and western United States--are $25 each. The North American version is $45. The apps are compatible with the iPhone 3GS and 4, or the 3G versions of the iPad and iPad 2. Devices must run iOS 3.0 or later.

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/225319/navigon_adds_augmented_reality_to_navigation_apps.html