It was a pleasant surprise for me to see that google has mapped the roads in Kerala fairly extensively. Previously it was available only for the major Cities in kerala. Almost all the major roads I looked up was mapped.
Also google will allow you to plan your route if you give a source and destination in Kerala.
To find out more, go to http://maps.google.co.in and type the name of a place. For eg. type Kottayam medical college arpookara.
You will be able to zoom in and out and also be able to see a satellite map. Click and drag to see more.
Has anybody tried to use satellite GPS in kerala? If the signal strength is good, we should be able to use it with google maps for real time navigation in Kerala and other states as well. I hope the free google maps for mobiles is available for Kerala region as well.
Post any more details.

i have tried google maps on my n95, it does calculate time and routes, and it does calculate your position with the internal gps, but i dont think it supports voice guidance. i think it needs an active data connection though.

even then it can turn out to be useful.

hi siby you'll be surprised again to see this link.. http://bhuvan.nrsc.gov.in/faq.html ,it was launched last month.. And read this too.. http://www.dancewithshadows.com/tech/bh ... d-by-isro/ and this http://www.indianexpress.com/news/with- ... an/222024/

Thanks for the info Sunil. Well done ISRO.
I tried bhuvan. At the moment, the imagery is quite low resolution, you can't make out any structure. Nowhere near google map's resolution; or am I missing something? Hope ISRO will provide with street level mapping soon.
I gather google maps is the result of a lot of people's efforts. You can map a road or landmark in the google satellite image of an area you know. A trusted google moderator has to approve it if he thinks that is correct. I have added a few landmarks in my own homeplace.
You can do that at http://www.google.co.in/mapmaker
You should be logged in to google or gmail to do it.

It seems that there are not enough GPS satellites for the Indian subcontinnt at present.

Hi siby
when i went home this time I used a navigation software from a company called 'Satguide'. it was a trial version i could use 10 times after whic it costs 1000 odd for upgrade.
good news is that satellite pick up was not an issue at all. i got same number and speed that i get in uk. the maps have a lot to go, but in cities like kochi it is pretty good. i am sure it will be more developed soon and more towns will be added soon. another good thing was that you didnt need any extra equipment, my n95's gps was integrated without any problem at all. keeping in mind tomtom doesn't do that without additional cracks.

i think gps in india will be big business soon. i think the way to go will be with user generated maps. good website i saw recently was waze.com.

When I use "motionXGPS in my iphone, it picks up satellite signal very vell,you can add waypoints for eg.my house and when I go out its compass shows the direction to drive back home.

That is good to know. If that is the case, you should be able to locate the position on google maps in iphone? Try google latitude as well.

Yes,(It will show your current location and thats how i mapped my house.There is an option in motionxgps to select either google maps or its default maps),And in the default map application in iphone,it correctly shows my current location in google maps and full driving root,but without voice guidance.I use it when I go to cochin or other places.The only problem is that it shows the shortest route,ie through small pocket roads and all.For eg.if i type muvattupuzha to kaloor,cochin; instead of going straight to vyttila,it shows to turn right at SN junction,which is a pocket road connected to vyttila and palarivattom bypass.But even then,it do help to navigate correctly. Recently there was an issue from local autorities in kerala about google mapping of small towns and villages in Kerala.Those who oppose the mapping says it will help terrorists!!!

Well Sunil, so the technology for satellite navigation is working in Kerala. Voice navigation may take a while as smebody has to develop that. Commercial sat nav programmes (in western countries for eg.) uses detailed maps with data on speed limits of each road, one way roads etc etc. So they can give you various options like fastest route, shortest route etc and voice guidance too. It may not be really necessary in Kerala as what we want is to know where we are.
I thing google maps is going to be the base as it is not worth for any company to create detailed map od kerala. For google maps, we can all add and edit the roads, so after some time it will become a detailed map.

But with motionX GPS drive,(I used version 3)it gives voice guidance too..

but the best I found is sygic mobile maps for my iphone with detasiled maps for anywhere in india,though not perfect... (with good? coverage of keralam too) More info here http://www.sygic.com/index.php/en/press ... s/231.html or http://www.sygic.com/index.php/en/features.html and i have it installed in my iphone! available in appstore now..