XRoad G-Map iPhone GPS navigation: First Look

Affordable, easy-to-use navigation app with notable compromises

Among the first professional, turn-by-turn navigation applications for the popular Apple iPhone, G-Map from XRoad does a good job of mimicking traditional portable navigation systems with its user interface, features, and guidance. Like other available apps, G-Map benefits from the iPhone's large display and touch screen in relation to other mobile devices.

G-Map is designed to work with the iPhone OS 3.0, and it is available for download through the Apple iTunes store. XRoad currently offers eight versions, broken down by map coverage. The two most expensive options are G-Map U.S. East and G-Map U.S. West, which each cost $35. The six other options are all priced at $20 and offer map coverage for only one or two states. The maps are from Navteq, a provider for many major navigation companies.

The G-Map app has a simple, one-time purchase price, whereas some early competing apps from AT&T and Gokivo require $10 monthly subscriptions.

For our test, we purchased G-Map U.S. East Version 1.3.1 for $35 and installed it on a 32-gigabyte iPhone 3G S ($300 with a two-year contract).

Key features include:

• Automatic rerouting
• Reality view, with split screen
• Voice-prompted route guidance

Initial impressions

The G-Map effectively brings portable navigation abilities to the iPhone with a familiar feel. It has the traditional ability to enter destinations from saved addresses, points of interest, favorite locations, coordinates, and directly type them on an onscreen QWERTY keyboard. The G-Map does not require a wireless connection (cell or WiFi) to route to a destination or obtain POI data. Along with the maps, this information is installed on the iPhone, as it is on most portable navigation devices, rather than downloaded on demand as with some phone-based navigation programs.

The directions are spoken, though with simple turn-based guidance, rather than by specific street name. (For example, "Turn left" rather than "Turn left on Main Street.") The iPhone sounds a tone at turns like traditional units as a cue to aid the driver. It also provides multidestination routing, location help, and even reality view. The XRoad advances the concept of reality view with detailed, three-dimensional rendering that looks less like a simple graphic slide and more like a video game experience, and it allows for a split screen to show reality view and a traditional perspective at the same time.

G-Map's friendly interface and intuitive controls coupled with a nice graphic display presents a viable option for GPS navigation. But there is room for improvement.

The G-Map and iPhone combination shares some common limitations with other GPS solutions on mobile phones. For example, the size of displayed data and onscreen buttons can feel small. The sound quality is also a bit low and distorted on full volume. And there is a lack of included hardware. The battery life diminishes rapidly when using a GPS application, making an in-car charger necessary. Also, a mount is needed for the phone.

Compared with traditional portable navigators, the G-Map has map coverage that is limited, particularly with the smaller map bundles. It may work well for many users who don't travel outside their region, but it would be a concern for those who live near the coverage borders.

Ultimately, our chief criticism is with its location accuracy. During regular use, the location was off much more frequently than it is with traditional PNDs. That caused the software to think that it was on a different road than it actually was, and in turn recalculate the route from the position mistakenly perceived. Needless to say, that can be annoying and confusing. The problem was not frequent, but did happen enough to mention, and it was amplified when driving in Manhattan, where many PNDs also have trouble navigating among the towering buildings. It's unclear whether this is a problem specific to G-Map or just the GPS capability of the iPhone. We will explore this further in future tests.

CR's take
G-Map is a decent GPS application for the iPhone, with an easy-to-use interface, nice graphics, and many features found on PNDs, making it an adequate option, especially at its current price. Most users will need to add a car charger and mount, adding to the cost. There are notable limitations to using an iPhone as an all-in-one device, as it cannot run more than one application at a time, with the exception of its music player. In this case, the iPhone cannot run G-Map and play music. Also, the application quits when a call is answered, and resumes when the call is over, but it requires some screen taps to resume the programmed route. And G-Map only works in portrait mode.

A basic or midlevel portable navigator is a better choice for regular use, though G-Map does have a price advantage. And like all software, it is expected to improve over time.

For more information on portable GPS navigation systems, see our special section with Ratings (available to subscribers) and buying advice. Discuss GPS with other shoppers and owners in the forums.