VIEWRANGER GPS ‘OFF-ROAD SAT NAV’ GOES GLOBAL

22 March 2010, 8:29pm

Cambridge – 22 March 2010 – ViewRanger GPS, Augmentra’s award-winning ‘off-road sat nav’, is now available in App stores on the Symbian platform. The global launch comes as ViewRanger adds OpenCycleMap and OpenStreetMap to its ever-growing range of mapping data.

The ViewRanger GPS application has immediately raced into the best sellers list on Nokia’s OVI store.

ViewRanger GPS offers far more than a map on a phone. It is a complete outdoor navigator with simple to use GPS interface, trail navigation, a sports computer to log progress, and the BuddyBeacon to locate friends. Routes can be plotted on the handset, imported via GPX, or downloaded over-the-air from ViewRanger’s growing library of guided routes. ViewRanger is popular for all kinds of outdoor recreational activities – on land, on water and in the air. It is also used and relied upon by outdoor professionals including Search and Rescue teams and field workers.

"ViewRanger transforms Symbian-based smartphones into a powerful GPS that makes it an essential app for any outdoor enthusiast and rescue team,” said Larry Berkin, Head of Global Alliances and GM USA, Symbian Foundation. "We are proud to see developers such as Augmentra create cutting edge Symbian applications that allow users to navigate the world's vast geographic landscape all through their mobile phone."

ViewRanger GPS is being made available initially in the Symbian App stores with more platforms planned. The app includes global mapping with street mapping from OpenStreetMap and topographical mapping from OpenCycleMap. Users can upgrade to premium map data sourced from over thirteen national mapping agencies including Ordnance Survey in the UK, Bundesamt fur Kartographie und Geodesie (BKG) in Germany, and National Geographic in the USA.

Map tiles can be downloaded direct to a handset via the mobile network, and larger areas can be sideloaded from a PC. It is possible to download mapping and cache it before going to areas with poor network coverage.

Craig Wareham, co-founder and CEO of Augmentra, said, “ViewRanger has been targeted successfully at consumers who would have otherwise selected a dedicated outdoors GPS unit – and has often been rated best-in-test in gear tests performed by outdoor magazines. We have seen a massive improvement in the mapping being created by local people of their own areas, and see the App stores as a means of making this global mapping available to a much wider group of people, packaged in a way that is very easy for them to use.

“Once people are familiar with ViewRanger we would anticipate that they will want to purchase detailed mapping for particular areas such as National Parks or Great Trails and we are working with international mapping agencies to extend the range of this premium content to deliver exactly what users require.”

Craig is excited at the expansion of ViewRanger’s map coverage and content and is creating tools for communities to tailor features of ViewRanger for their own sports or interests.

“The Buddy Beacon is often used by organisers of sponsored events to keep track of participants and team leaders in remote areas; following progress on their handsets and embedding it in the event website. We see that other groups of people could tailor this feature, through our BuddyBeacon API, for their own requirements.

“We are also working with content owners who have routes and tourist information, and making it easy for them to publish their guided walks digitally via ViewRanger GPS, and generate revenue from downloads.”

Further integration with applications such as Retrieva, a dog collar that gives the location of a pet, and geocaching, where people follow a ‘treasure trail’ using map coordinates, demonstrates the potential for community driven developments.

“ViewRanger has offered mapping for a range of European, Scandinavian and North American countries for some time, but we are delighted to expand our offering to a truly global level,” said Craig. “Our upgraded product offers all the benefits of a standalone outdoor GPS unit – and more – but runs conveniently on a Symbian-based mobile phone.”

ViewRanger GPS is available from the link below and from apps stores including Nokia’s OVI store and Samsung Apps from £4.00 (€5). Existing ViewRanger users get a free upgrade to the new software.

ViewRanger GPS

Geo: International