0 Nokia's Navteq launches indoor navigation with Destination Maps

Nokia's digital mapping arm Navteq has launched its indoor mapping service in India. Navteq's Destination Maps covers 150 malls across 17 cities in India. The new indoor mapping app allows users to access interior map attributes such as escalators and elevators along with detailed information about a place, making navigation easier in indoor spaces.(Check video Below)

Nokia says its Destination Maps is designed to enhance the consumer shopping experience by enabling the creation of applications that facilitate “internal” direct routes to stores, ATM’s, exits etc, whilst providing detailed information about Points of Interest (POI) and improved search functionality.

A typical navigation solution guides users to an approximate location of a destination. In case of finding a shopping mall, a normal navigation device will guide users to to the most proximate location to a listed address on the road work. But in reality the desired destination may be a place inside a mall, says a shoe store. Nokia's Destination Maps addresses this need of “last meter guidance” by guiding the user all the way to the shoe store.

“The concept of indoor mapping is extremely relevant in India where the mall culture has gripped Indians of all ages. More importantly, NAVTEQ Destination Maps allow applications to easily and seamlessly extend navigation experience from the outside, all the way to the front door of a shop within a mall.” said Tarun Harnathka, Director of Map and Content, Indian Subcontinent, Nokia, Location & Commerce.

“Destination Maps is the newest addition to our pedestrian navigation portfolio. The combination of Destination Maps and other Location & Content products allows our customers to truly deliver integrated consumer experience from driving, commuting to indoor shopping,” he adds.

Launch of the Destination Maps app comes days after Nokia revealed NAVTEQ Map coverage had increased its India map by over 80 percent to more than 4,200 cities in two quarters. Nokia recently NAVTEQ Traffic Pro service that provides detailed information about traffic speeds on motorways, main and secondary roads to enable more accurate estimated arrival times. This service is presently available in Delhi and Mumbai. To know more, read our previous coverage here.

With the Destination Maps app, Nokia takes on Google's Google Maps that also has similar indoor mapping feature. Google Maps with indoor mapping is currently available only in the U.S. and Japan. In India, Nokia will be competing with navigation service providers such as TomTom and MapMyIndia.

 check out how the Destination Maps work in the video Here