SatGuide posts quantum leap in Map Content
~Ramps up number of road networks from 50 to 200 cities; Multiplies number of Points of Interest (POIs) to over 1 million; Major POIs also have Address and Contact Number included; SatGuide has captured 69, 136 POIs in AP and 17, 431 POIs exclusively for Hyderabad for easy navigation~

Hyderabad,India October,2008: SatNav Technologies, the GPS Pioneer in India and a leading IT Products Company, for the first time in Indian GPS industry announced today the enhancement of its maps by adding 1 million Points of Interest (POIs), with important ones also having specs like addresses and contact numbers in them for 12 important categories of Points of Interest (POIs) across 8 major cities in India. This is the first time any company has built content at this magnitude which will provide a huge value add to the end customers.

These cities include Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Kolkatta and Ahmedabad, among others. SatGuide has now added on 150 more cities to its services which takes it to a total of 200 cities within a short period. This indeed would help any SatGuide customer to find most destinations with ease and can fulfill their requirements (like making reservation at a restaurant) before reaching his/her destination with the help of the contact number made available.

Points of Interest (POIs) are important landmarks marked such as Hospitals, ATM centers, Malls, Theaters & Hotels to name a few, which help in ease navigation to the specific destination even if streets are unnamed. SatGuide offers a ONE INDIA Map which has all this information and is available for a retail price of Rs 3999 only. Existing map customers under the annual plan get free upgrades.

These maps are also incorporated with turn by turn voice integrated directions along with detailed National and State Highway Network. The maps of the states which are now available with SatGuide are those of Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Bihar, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharastra, Uttaranchal, Madhya Pradesh, Pondicherry, Orissa, Tripura, Uttaranchal and West Bengal. In Andhra Pradesh, detailed maps are available for Secunderabad, Hyderabad, Vishakpatnam, Kakinada, Guntur to name a few with 69, 136 important POIs. 17, 431 POIs are covered in detail for Hyderabad.

In and around Delhi, detailed maps are available for Greater Noida, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Ghaziabad to name a few and other cities with as many as 2,14,970 POIs, a jump of over 10 fold over what was available previously. In Mumbai the satellite cities like Navi Mumbai, Powai, Kalyan, Karjat, Bhiwandi are covered with help of 17,307 POIs and the whole of Maharastra is covered by 29,395 important POIs and major cities like Nagpur, Nasik, Pune are covered in these maps.

As for Bangalore the major cities covered are Yelahanka, Whitefield, Puttenahalli with 1,88,616 POIs. In Chennai the major satellite cities that are extensively covered by SatGuide are Kanchipuram, Tiruvallur, Ennore with 2,35,448 POIs. In Kerala, the major cities that are covered by SatGuide are Kottayam, Thrissur, Kochi, Kovalam to name a few with 76, 852 POIs.

SatGuide has recently enhanced its map aesthetics by applying high end software created by Intrinsyc, the world leader in navigation software. The maps are to be updated once in every four months. SatGuide is also the only product in the country to offer voice instructions in 8 Indian languages, which significantly expands the market size in the country and will provide a fillip to the industry as a whole.

Commenting on the recent development, Mr. Amit Prasad, CEO and Founder MD of SatNav Technologies said, “Getting to a Million POIs, incorporating addresses and phone numbers for important ones is a major milestone in the GPS industry as well as the mapping initiatives in the country. SatGuide was already a market leader and this step now puts us at ten times higher level of content than we were before for major cities across the country. ”

Recently with the launch of Citizen Mapper scheme under which people get rewarded for feedback, SatNav Technologies is open to take inputs on POIs from GPS enthusiasts for their web portal- roads of India. This will help the company to frequently update those POIs that the customers think is necessary for navigation. SatNav Technologies offers a wide range of GPS products based on the needs of the users. These devices meant for navigation also have other applications on them. Personal Navigation Device (PND); or navigation enabled PDAs; or Bluetooth Receiver for Windows Mobile phones/PDAs that are not Navigation enabled; and also SatGuide software and Maps for users of Windows Mobile Laptops/Desktops.

SatGuide is planning to reach out to more customers by adding more city maps and POIs over the course of the year. It is also conducting a series of marketing activities in the festive month to ensure that the market expands to benefit all consumers and service providers
 

-Reachout's News Bureau
October' 2008

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