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MAPPING ON A MOBILE PHONE Depending on the map tool of choice, fleet managers can share finished maps and directions with drivers via email, text message, iPad or a pre-installed navigation device. Both Google Maps and MapQuest are available in a mobile application version, while Bing Maps is available as part of the Bing mobile app for phones and the iPad. Fibrenew Atlanta Northwest franchisee Bill Metropol uses Google Maps on his BlackBerry phone to set
Pages mobile app to find local businesses quickly when he’s out on a call and short on time. The app can pull up all locations of a certain type of business — say, dentists who may be in need of leather repair — then navigate to those locations and provide URLs and phone numbers. Standard GPS services with voice navigation can be very costly, so the voice navigation feature on MapQuest’s free mobile app has been met with a warm response, MapQuest’s Corbin says. To keep drivers on time,
From route optimization to voice navigation, mobile phone mapping and search engine integration, these familiar software and web-based mapping tools offer enhanced trip planning for little to no cost. BY J E N N I F E R WA S H I N G TO N
SOLUTIONS reimbursement, says Anke Corbin, vice president of marketing and distribution at MapQuest.
THREE MORE FREE MAP TOOLS Among typical map services, NAVTEQ Map24 has a customizable route configurator that allows users to select type of vehicle, means of travel (interstate, road, or minor road) and amount of highway use and road type. Free Map Tools offers more than 30 tools for creating, measuring and saving maps to share with others, including “How Far Is It In Between?” for measuring distances, Time Zone Converter, Radius Around Point and Area Calculator. The Meeting COG for ZIP codes tool offers the closest location to hold a meeting by processing att tendees’ ZIPs. Rand McNally offers a userfriendly interface for obtaining directions and maps, as well as useful travel guides with information, photos and videos for a large number of cities across the United States. WWW.BUSINESSFLEET.COM
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up destinations the day before and checks BlackBerry Traffic en route to keep his directions updated. By using a phone cradle in his vehicle, Metropol can get in, touch the screen and go, he says. Metropol uses Google Maps’ rerouting feature on the fly. To add a stop to a route, “You can place your cursor over the highlighted route on the Google map and drag that road
MapQuest’s free Route Planner, available as its own website, can calculate routes with up to 26 stops.
in the middle like a rubber band and stretch it in another direction,” he adds. “The map will automatically adjust for you.” Metropol also uses the Yellow
the app also features an estimated time of arrival function. Last year, business traveler and IT professional Paul Braren of Wethersfield, Conn., decided to replace his portable GPS device with an iPhone 4. He uses NAVIGON Mobile Navigator software on his phone and syncs addresses from his computer using Apple’s MobileMe service. “Before I head out, I run NAVIGON on my phone and I point it to my address book and the different places I’m going,” Braren says. “If I get a business-related call, I can take the call and just keep my hands on the wheel of the car. As soon as I hang up, it returns me to the directions.” At $49.99, NAVIGON is a bit pricey for an iPhone app, Braren says — but well worth the cost. “During 10 to 20 mile trips, I spend half as much time in the car as I would without NAVIGON,” he says. Live traffic updates on the app that reroute around trouble automatically “have saved my skin,” Braren says. BF
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