Windows Phone Thoughts: Sat Nav (Externally-hosted GPS Service) from Orange Available in Europe

"Sat Nav from Orange works on a range of mobile devices and requires mobile data access (GPRS or 3G) for the download of your journey routes. No maps are stored on the mobile device which means the maps are always up to date. Once each route has been downloaded, Sat Nav from Orange works with the Bluetooth GPS receiver to provide you with real-time, turn by turn navigation, even in the most built up areas. In terms of coverage, Sat Nav from Orange includes full mapping for the UK, Ireland, Belgium, Luxembourg and The Netherlands for no extra charge."



While this service is exclusive to Europe, I believe this provides a hint as to the roadmap for GPS services and solutions. On the surface, Sat Nav looks no different from other standard GPS-based navigational solutons; however, there is one significant difference which adds tremendous additional value to users needing the best information at all times; Sat Nav is an external service which maintains all the maps and map-related data centrally. For an additional fee, they also include live traffic conditions.

This service model enables routing and navigation that is optimized on current traffic conditions as opposed to just static map data. Additionally, map and point-of-interest updates are managed periodically, removing the need for the user to be concerned with applying software/map updates (all users are up-to-date whenever they connect). This is truly great stuff if you ask me!