Google Kenya has announced an enhanced version of its Turn-by-Turn navigation system that will enable users to navigate easier on the Kenyan roads.
The turn-by-turn navigation feature allows a user to move from one location to the next with more accuracy after Google integrated more data on roads within Nairobi and the country as a whole.
The feature, which is voice-enabled, can also be used when walking. It is however only hosted on smartphones and devices that are compatible with GPS.
“We have 75 per cent of all roads in the country covered under the turn-by-turn navigation feature which allows ease of movement,” said Evans Arabu, program manager at Google Kenya, at a demonstration event, reported The Star.
He added that through their feature maker and advancements in mapping, users of the application on either Android or iOS operating systems can assist in mapping the areas that are not yet covered through collaborative mapping.
Over the past three years more than 500,000 changes have been made by 15,000 mapmakers.
“Through the map maker feature of Google Maps (http://www.google.com/mapmaker) users are able to plot more points on the existing maps,” said Arabu.
Though feature phones cannot access the enhanced turn-by-turn navigation feature, they can use basic Google Maps.
Google has so far mapped 80 per cent of the population, 35,000 schools, 7,000 hospitals and 200,000 points of interest such as businesses and is working on making the application available in Kiswahili.
