Did Google Just Kill Garmin?

Along with the announcement of the Motorola Droid, the first Android 2.0 phone, came a second announcement which could impact many four wheelers. Google has just introduced its Google Maps Navigation app. It's basically a turn-by-turn navigation system that leverages the well-known and ubiquitous Google Maps. That means that you'll not only get the standard map view, you'll also get the satellite view, the street-level view, as well as traffic data. All of Google's map data is pulled down from the "cloud" (via data transmission over cellular phone connections) so it is always up-to-date, too. While traffic data and satellite imagery is available in some versions of Garmin, Lowrance and Tom Tom GPS systems, none of them have Google's street view. But more importantly, none of them are giving away this service and data for free. That's right, Google Maps Navigation is FREE. Currently it is only available for Android 2.0 devices. There are only a small handful of such devices right now, but many more are slated to hit the shelves over the next few months. But Google will most likely be porting it to other platforms as well, including the iPhone.

3D Navigation View	Traffic View	Street View
User can use voice commands to request creation of routes.	User-selected layers to display a variety of map information.	Can limit search to the areas long your route.

While I love free software as much as the next person, I have to say that this really worries me. The market for in-car GPS systems has seen explosive growth over the past several years, and today's announcement will send shock waves through that industry. Faced with a full-featured product that is backed up with an enormous breadth and depth of data, being offered for FREE, I expect the traditional consumer market GPS companies to lose a lot of business. As a four wheeler, this concerns me because companies like Garmin and Lowrance produce GPS units and map data products that are very useful to me, such as topographic maps and blue water maps (lakes, rivers, etc). Unlike Google Maps Navigation, they don't require cell coverage; the data is stored in the GPS unit itself. If Google cripples these companies by taking away their most profitable market segments, will they be able to survive and continue to produce and innovate their outdoor recreation products?

Google Maps Navigation's weak point is that it requires a data connection. If you define a route, it will cache the data along that route to handle cell signal drop outs, but if you take a detour that takes you off course by a significant amount, you won't have map coverage if you have no cell coverage. So it's not a complete disaster for the GPS makers. Rural and out-of-country users of GPS systems will still rely on the old data-on-the-GPS products. Data plans are costly enough in Canada, I shudder to think what the roaming charges would be if I used Google Maps Navigation while on vacation in the US. But even if we limit the potential Google Maps Navigation users to those of us who live in urban environments, Google Maps Navigation will still have a very significant and debilitating impact on Garmin and other GPS companies. If Garmin and the others go out of business, who is going to produce quality topographic maps and off-road GPS systems for us and at a reasonable price?