Test & Measurement

Bosch Navigation App: New iPhone navigation application 3D map enables quick orientation

21st February 2011
ES Admin
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Bosch delved into its long years of know-how in navigation technology to recently develop an innovative application program with a new navigation software program specifically for the iPhone. It satisfies in-vehicle demands for clear-cut operating menus and easy orientation as well as for precise, reliable route guidance. And what's more, the new iPhone application from Bosch also offers different driver assistance functions, including such features as a stylized, three-dimensional map view with distinctive landmarks, warnings when the vehicle's speed approaching a curve is too high and Eco navigation, which allows the choice of a fuel-optimized route. The download and the installation of the application are directly available through the iTunes app store.
A map that focuses on what's most important: 3D artMap

The Bosch navigation app map view displays distinctive landmarks, such as prominent buildings or bridges, in 3D. Less important details off the route are kept in the background, thus allowing drivers to easily compare the map view with the real surroundings and orient themselves quickly - particularly in combination with the precise spoken driving recommendations and the lane assistant, which helps to always keep the driver in the right lane.



Easy to use and understand: Multitouch affords intuitive operation

In the field of portable navigation solutions for the iPhone, the Bosch navigation app also offers a brand-new feature for the first time: quick and easy operation using Multitouch. The map view follows the user's fingers when scrolling, sliding, zooming or rotating the map and its 3D contents with no delay. In addition, the details of a route can also be seen in different scales or from different angles.



An assistance function for greater driving safety: the curve warning assistant

The current map data also provides the Bosch engineers with information that is ideal for linking navigation with driver-assistance functions. With the help of innovative algorithms, for example, the system is able to warn the driver that the vehicle is traveling too fast when approaching a curve. The application uses its knowledge of curve geometry to recognize any danger at an early point in time. As a result, the Bosch navigation app provides information on approaching bends and emits an acoustic warning if a certain curve speed is currently exceeded. In other words, there aren't really any critical curves anymore, there are only critical speeds for any particular curve.



An assistance function for energy-efficient driving: the Eco route

The Bosch route selection function now also includes Eco navigation to offer an ecologically and economically optimized route. On the basis of enhanced navigation data, this feature evaluates different road attributes, which can include such things as the number of towns or places to be passed through or intersections along the route. With the help of these route recommendations based on individual route profiles, the Bosch navigation app is able to reduce fuel consumption, which translates as a considerable reduction in fuel costs as well as in CO2 emissions.



Social network client: your friends are always there.

Last but certainly not least, the new Bosch application also boasts another special feature: vehicle passengers can keep their friends and acquaintances right up to speed on their own personal Facebook or Twitter pages with respect to their current vehicle position, the driving destination and remaining driving time and also add a short text. This is a quick and easy way to keep your friends informed should there be any delay in your arrival.



Bosch prototypes have been navigating their way around Germany since 1983

The iPhone is a portable platform that is well able to accommodate the demanding, trusted Bosch navigation software. Bosch engineers already applied for the first patents for vehicle navigation as early as in 1978. Five years later, the company then presented the Electronic Travel Pilot for Car Drivers (EVA - Elektronischer Verkehrslotse für Autofahrer), the world's first navigator for road traffic. The EVA prototypes at that time were already capable of route guidance using visual and spoken driving recommendations. And in 1989, Bosch launched the TravelPilot IDS, the first mass-produced destination-finding system, onto the European market. It used a screen map to provide information on the vehicle position and the destination. Finally, since the mid 1990s, the highly precise navigation systems from Bosch have also been communicating driving recommendations with easy-to-understand voice output throughout Europe and beyond.



New application for the iPhone

With its intuitive operation and the stylized 3D map view, with routes that are calculated quickly and with high precision and innovative driver-assistance functions, the Bosch navigation app for the iPhone will be new on the market starting in December 2010. This portable, universal application program is sure to blaze new trails as well as tap into new target groups and destinations.

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