In SA, where traffic congestion is becoming a problem, it is important to deliver detailed information about the speed of traffic as well as incidents such as accidents and road closures, says Nokia SA product manager, Patrick Henchie.
He says this information enables navigation devices and drivers to make smart routing and re-routing decisions and delivers the most accurate arrival time estimates.
With this in mind, Nokia SA has updated its Nokia Maps application for smartphones. The free service shows users real-time traffic updates, delivering up-to-the minute information on incidents like congestion, road closures, road works and traffic flow.
According to Henchie, this enables users to pre-plan the quickest and most environmentally efficient route.
Nokia says its maps traffic service receives information from digital traffic sensors, as well as commercial and government partners via Navteq, while crowd-sourced information comes from users. “With crowd-sourcing, the more people that use the service, the more accurate it will get.”
Navteq's director of sales for sub-Saharan Africa, Irvine Aitcheson, says Navteq will help this new update because it has an extensive historic traffic data collection and processing capability.
Traffic is the latest feature available for the new Nokia Maps, with users already using the app for drive and walk navigation, weather, checking in to their favourite social network, or getting quality location information via services like Lonely Planet, Trip Advisor or Qype, according to Nokia.
Nokia Maps claims it has a 100% coverage of the road network (554 239km), with speed limits for major roads and lane guidance for all motorways. “Walk navigation is available for Cape Town and Johannesburg,” the company says.
In addition to the new features for mobile, Nokia Maps for desktop has also been updated and now includes photo-realistic 3D imaging of Cape Town, among other major global cities.
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