The benefits of traditional maps apps are unchallenged. Constantly innovating to improve their value. Recent inclusions include Bluetooth navigation in tunnels and airports.
While they are invaluable for finding and navigating to a registered business or the occasional user-defined pin they do not actively capture two key types of information;
- Temporary locations or road closures. The very nature of their global appeal inhibits their ability to be any closer than 6 – 9 months up to date for road closures.
- Secondly, they have a highly structured categorization of destinations or locations so items such as amenities are not recorded. Nor are attributes for those amenities like a water refill station.
- Finally, they access road networks from government agencies like @tfNSW, thus leaving a gap for non-vehicle routes.
The image below shows a traditional map app view on the left while the two images on the right show the benefits of a customized map. What is missing from maps for you?