Augmented Reality Navigation app Wikitude Drive launches in the USA

wikitude (select to view enlarged photo)

SALZBURG, Austria--July 19, 2011: After the highly anticipated launch of the multiple award winning app in Europe earlier this year, Wikitude Drive is now ready to revolutionize how Americans navigate to their summer vacation destination. All-American car road trips are a big tradition and those who own an Android device can now purchase the world's first augmented reality (AR) navigation app for only USD 9.99 in the Android Market .

“In addition, Wikitude Drive proves to be a road safety milestone because the driver's view never leaves the road”

Wikitude Drive shows innovation by overlaying the desired navigation route onto the camera view of the mobile device. With this new technology, navigation has just become significantly easier and safer. "Wikitude Drive revolutionizes mobile navigation. Instead of using a digital map, the driver simply needs to follow a line projected onto his camera view. It all happens in real time", said Martin Herdina, CEO of Wikitude. Following a line is a lot easier than following a route on a rather abstract map that hardly resembles reality. "In addition, Wikitude Drive proves to be a road safety milestone because the driver's view never leaves the road", Herdina pointed out one of the app's key advantages.

Besides viewing the route itself, the driver has the option of virtually adding points of interest (POIs) like hotels, restaurants and petrol stations to the display. To ensure high quality of POI and routing data Wikitude Drive works with digital map market leader Navteq. Having to updating a map or route information has become a thing of the past with Wikitude Drive as the data is always downloaded in real time to enable route calculation. Users can rest assured that the latest additions and changes to the roads are included.

Multiple awards won already

While still in the Beta-version, Wikitude Drive was awarded numerous notable prizes including the Galileo Master 2010 of the European Satellite Navigation Competition, Global Champion of the NAVTEQ LBS Challenge and Winner of the World Summit Award 2010.