SA embraces GPS technology
2007-10-10 07:58
Gerhard Mulder
Johannesburg - Forget about getting lost. South Africans have embraced GPS technology and according to one estimate more than 300 000 GPS systems would be sold by the end of the year.
Ray Wilkinson, managing director of MapIT, estimates the value of the systems at R1bn. South Africa's increasing use of GPS technology is part of a global trend. It is expected that 22 million of the units would be sold this year, compared with 8 million units sold in Europe and the US in 2005.
The Dutch-based TomTom, possibly the world's most popular GPS system for vehicles, announced that the number of users on its website continue to increase. In March this year, it had 1 million registered users and by August, it has 2.5 million registered users on its website.
Communicate in Afrikaans
TomTom made its appearance in South Africa earlier this year and can now even communicate in Afrikaans. In South Africa, MapIT is one of the biggest suppliers of maps for navigation systems, including for TomTom, Garmin, Navig8 and Mio.
Wilkinson said there is increasingly more interest from big local companies to be listed on MapIT's maps. Users would for example request the address of the nearest doctor and it would display on the GPS system.
"It is a very powerful and accurate form of marketing," said Wilkinson.
These maps could very soon be just as standard as cameras on cellphones. Wilkinson reckons that by 2010 a quarter of all GPS systems could be cellphones.
This option is becoming more and more available to South Africans. Two GPS-ready Nokia phones are already available. The cellphone giant also recently bought US-based digital map supplier Navteq for $8.1bn.
An analyst told the website CNet "all cellphone providers would have to move in this direction".
GPS-ready cellphones are however not the only newcomer in the market. British company LocatioNet Systems expanded a free web based application for cellphones to South Africa.
By loading the amAze program on a cellphone, users could get access to maps and addresses. Although it does not work through GPS, it gives users the functions of GPS-ready cellphones.
- Sake24
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