GPS shows the way in India
New Delhi, Oct 22: Have you ever been stranded in the middle of the night wondering which turn to take or gone in circles looking for a particular building, wishing someone was there to point out the right route?
While some still go about in circles, a few tech-savvy individuals have now turned to GPS (Global Positioning System)-enabled navigation system which pinpoints turn-by-turn route to their destination.
"Our system can guide you from Kashmir to Kanyakumari across all major highways in the country. In addition, detailed intra-city roads and points of interest are also available for major metros," says Jaya Prakash of SatNav Technologies, which manufactures GPS-enabled navigation system.
"With SatGuide, a user navigates to any chosen location by entering the destination as the input, SatGuide resolves the current location from GPS satellites and suggests the best possible route on a map displayed on the screen. While driving, it prompts the user all along the way through voice commands with directions to reach the destination," adds Prakash.
"The consumer market is very small in India. What we have now is the tech savvy cool to be seen with or I-love-gadgets young brigade who are adopting the GPS navigation system," says Ashutosh Pande, managing director, SiRF Technology which manufactures chips for GPS-enabled systems.
He adds, "Right now there are hardly around 20,000-25,000 GPS-enabled navigation system users in the country even though the market has high potential for growth with the economy booming and more people becoming aware of such a system since till now we have always imagined GPS with only military equipment...Moreover, till very recently, having a digital map of the country was a crime in India. So, in a way GPS has just taken birth in India," Pande points out.
GPS-enabled navigation system manufacturers in India point out that unlike in other countries, here the only drawback for such a system is that only city by city maps are being developed along with all the major national highways.
Airtel, one of India's largest cellular operators, recently introduced its GPS service through BlackBerry 8800 by which one receives turn by turn navigation on their cell.
"We have already got a good number of users. Since, all you need is a BlackBerry 8800, it becomes very easy for the user since he/she does not need any additional device," says an Airtel executive.
According to industry experts, the market for GPS can be broadly divided into four depending on the devices and services offered, namely, automotive, mobile phone, mobile computer and embedded consumer.
"If we take the industry statistics, the penetration level of GPS companies in all the four markets is less than 1 per cent in India. This means that more than 99 per cent of the market is yet to be tapped," says Pande.
He adds that when the GPS system was first launched in the world it was priced around $ 5,000 dollar. Recently, Harman/Kardon has launched a GPS device with MP3 and video for $ 150 dollar.
The popularity of GPS in India can be gauged from the online communities on Orkut and Yahoo where especially on a Yahoo GPS community, live discussions on new technology and adaptations are regularly done. Users of GPS point out that even though it has been helpful, transmission at times go haywire during a storm or driving through tall buildings or trees.
"I get ample feedback from my GPS system but during storms or when I drive through roads with tall buildings, the transmission does not come in properly and I at times get completely lost since the GPS system needs uninterrupted beam.
"There are hiccups but must say that the new systems are better when it comes to transmission during storms," says Pande.
Mapping companies which make digitalised maps for GPS systems point out that one of the main problems that they face is that with construction happening all the time, they have to frequently update their maps.
"There are so many buildings and malls coming up that we have to frequently update our maps. Moreover, road names keep on changing here in India which is again an additional problem," chuckles an mapping executive with Navteq, one of the world's largest mapping firms.
"Having been a success in much more difficult countries like Japan, we have already mapped almost every major metro in India along with the national highways. The market looks bright," he adds.
"With GPS now being used not for just navigation system but for a lot of other things especially by courier and transport companies among others who have started using them for their vehicle location and distribution system, the future of GPS in India is bright," says Pande. (Agencies) Published: Monday, October 22, 2007 | 
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