How to Make a GPS Navigation App: The Features You Need and the Competition

Augmented Reality Geolocation app can help users find their way when they seem lost in an unfamiliar area. This not only navigates but also gives a live on-street experience to reach your destination. Background mode for location tracking will complement the app’s technology and functionality, mainly if your GPS platform relies on local notifications.

how to build a gps app

For example, instead of pushing minor updates every week, think about a monthly update that tackles several issues. When introducing new features, make decisions based on user feedback and what the business requires. Deploying your app is a significant milestone, but it’s just the beginning. The real challenge lies in maintaining its relevance and ensuring its security. While cloud solutions have democratized access to advanced features, it’s the post-launch phase that often determines an app’s success. Pichukov believes that even with top-notch development, an app will fail if it doesn’t address user needs.

What’s the cheapest way to integrate maps in my iOS app?

An iPhone application for the Stanford University School of Medicine to help them run a study of a fainting disease. The app tracks and visualizes heart rate and notifies participants to take a survey when it detects them near a hospital. Navigating or finding a free parking lot with voice is clearly an advantage to the user.

  • Geolocation was one of the main functionalities that were added to this ridesharing app.
  • AR City, owned by Blippar, is another famous example of Augmented Reality GPS apps.
  • Listening to their feedback, Papas’ team promptly reinstated the feature.
  • In this guide, you’ll create a minimal navigation app, begin navigation by selecting a point on the map, and change the style of the navigation view controller.
  • Both Google and Apple provide more than enough tools for developers to build location-aware solutions.
  • Besides geolocation services, the company offers you Google Maps Directions API.
  • If you focus on a product for non-work related usage, you should definitely go for social media integration.

Google Maps already offers AR navigation for those areas which have Google Street View. They also plan on improving their Visual Positioning System to make orientation more accurate. Voice activated controls are increasing in popularity rapidly. More users prefer speech output when it comes to searching and voiced instructions are helpful in a variety of domains. For example, there are apps with voice navigation for running such as RunGo which offers voice-driven route guidance. For driving apps, it is a necessity to provide a hands-free option for every action.

How to Make a Navigation App like Google Maps?

Apple does that automatically in iOS, and if you want to get your hands on accuracy in Android, use Fused Location Provider API. If it does, then you can test the interim app builds and provide feedback. For instance, at Topflight, we share updates and new versions with clients every two weeks or so. So creating the MFP will help you understand whether you should proceed with an MVP for the rest of the features. Let’s say you want to use a map of a large open area with a compass to allow conference members to quickly locate each other and connect. Unless you have this feature, the rest of the app doesn’t make sense.

Delivery applications need options for ordering food at the moment, seeing a courier’s location on a map, checking delivery times, etc. Uber, Uber Eats, and Zomato are the biggest players in this field. For example, Uber Eats’ revenue exceeded $5 billion in 2021, with nearly 70 million users. Here you can learn more on how to build a GPS app even better than Uber. After you come up with an idea to create a GPS-based application, the project will require thorough and detailed planning.

Initialize a map

Simply put, such apps allow users to order any kind of service and get it in minutes. Now that you have a fully functioning map within your app, you can easily test the feature using Felgo Hot Reload. At this point, you can still add navigation items, new pages and subpages and adjust the content in your project. You can make any changes right in your running app and immediately see your modifications without ever leaving the screen.

how to build a gps app

In this regard, it makes sense to look for an outsource development team in Eastern Europe. Firstly, here you find a plethora of specialists that know how to create a location-based app. Secondly, hourly rates in Eastern European countries are wallet-friendly. In Ukraine, for example, due to taxation subvention, the average rate of a software developer is 40 USD per hour. By providing relevant content based on a user’s location, they can immerse users in a world of adventures.

Start tracking the device’s location

Overall, the main challenge lies in maintaining accuracy which is a crucial factor for any AR app. App publishers must be able to reliably maintain accuracy with their apps. AR GPS navigation can help solve this and save the logistics industry millions of dollars. SEO activities to enhance website structure and attract more organic users necessary for the company’s consistent growth. Power BI analytics solution empowers the client with comprehensive analytics that boosts the productivity for the teams and individuals.

how to build a gps app

It uses GPS along with a smartphone camera and uses an on-screen virtual path to simplify the navigation journey. Nowadays, whenever we need to go somewhere, we have mobile apps to guide us and help us find the best route. GPS tracking apps help us reach our destinations how to create a gps app with the fewest instructions and lightest traffic. The rapid growth of GPS navigation shows that consumers are increasingly using smartphones while traveling. Battery consumption of mobile devices while using geolocation applications is quite high if not optimized.

Steps of Location-Based App Development

This will give the names of stars, constellations, and visible planets if any. If users point the device at the ground, they’ll get to know the names of stars and constellations visible in the opposite hemisphere. This is a great example of how location-based augmented reality can be used for educational purposes also. It is the first Augmented Reality GPS mobile game to reach such heights of popularity. Capturing the attention of gamers of all ages, it allows users to capture the visual creatures that are superimposed throughout the real world, visible through the device’s camera.

It also helps conduct more efficient delivery of goods by optimizing navigation on roads. Thanks to maps and geo-locations that we do not need to ask the passers-by for the route guideline or traffic situations anymore. Speech-to-text mobile app and the web platform processing feedback into the company’s workflow. It’s not enough to create a navigation application—you need to be able to monetize it afterwards. So the next question is regarding how to make a GPS app profitable. Surely, this list could be continued, but these are the most relevant technologies for creating GPS applications.

Interested in the development of a geolocation dating app?

The recently introduced group planning feature in Google Maps allows people to plan a visit together somewhere inside the app. For people who regularly commute, a mobile app with adaptable transport information can solve many commuter gripes. Citymapper, Transit, and Moovit are among the apps which focus on a traffic and road conditions for commuters. The MadAppGang team worked on a navigation app for truck drivers and learnt about the key engineering challenges linked to this kind of development. All a user needs to do is, point the smartphone toward the sky.