Cloudmade, the platform and tools company serving consumers, mappers, developers and advertisers around the world, has announced the release of Navi Studio, a suite of products designed to help developers create compelling turn-by-turn navigation applications with detailed community-generated maps.
Navi Studio provides the core mapping services and software components that developers, mobile operators and handset manufacturers need, when they build turn-by-turn navigation into their applications and handsets.
Early Navi Studio partner skobbler, a spin-off of premium-navigation provider Navigon, released its Navi Studio-based navigation app to Apples App store and within 24 hours, it topped the sales charts. In the German App Store, it was first in the navigation category, second in overall gross revenue across all apps, and second in overall sales across all apps.
The skobbler app, which currently sells for 2.99, is the first turn-by-turn navigation app to incorporate user-editable maps, and to switch from Navteq maps to using CloudMades Navi Studio product. The app offers engaging 2.5D graphics, voice guided turn-by-turn directions, night/day modes, in-app iPod playback, and bookmarks for favourite destinations.
CloudMade offers commercial-grade maps that leverage OpenStreetMap (OSM) and a number of other sources. CloudMade provides guaranteed uptimes and vector based map tiles for smooth, real-time map delivery. Known as the Wikipedia of maps, OSM allows its users to alter the map or add completely new components like streets, tracks or buildings. OSMs exponential development is vividly illustrated by its contributor figures: having relied on a mere 10,000 mappers worldwide in early 2008, there is currently a 230,000-strong community of mappers who maintain the map, looking for and correcting errors, and predictions see this figure exceeding 1 million by the end of 2010.
If a user spots an inaccuracy in the map while using skobbler for example, a blocked road or incorrect address they can simply correct the error by using CloudMades Mapzen web editor. To do this, users simply go to http://mapzen.cloudmade.com/ sign up for an account, locate the error in the map and start correcting or adding new content to the map.
Were extremely pleased with the high demand for our app and give credit to CloudMades Navi Studio product and mapping platform, for helping us achieve this success, says skobbler CEO, Peter Scheufen. We switched from using Navteq maps so we could provide more interaction with our users and give them a map which they could edit and update themselves. In the not too distant future, we see OpenStreetMap surpassing the legacy map suppliers in terms of quality and detail, as its vast community continues to map everything in their neighborhoods.
Developers can find out more about CloudMades Navi Studio suite here. skobbler can be downloaded from the German Apple App store here.