Google Maps Navigation (Beta) Unveiled Google Adds Free Turn-by-Turn Navigation to Android 2.0

It looks like navigation service providers had a reason to fear Google
playing in their market. What used to be only a supposition yesterday,
turned out to be correct today when Mountain View unveiled Google Maps
Navigation (Beta), an upgraded version of their current Maps software
that brings turn-by-turn navigation to any Android 2.0 device —
yes, including the newly introduced Motorola Droid!

It was clear from user demand the next natural step was to offer
turn-by-turn directions, said Vic Gundotra, Google's vice president of
engineering for mobile and developer. That was what drove this product.

Google Maps Navigation is a free updated maps application for the
company's upcoming Android 2.0 operating system. Other than offering
standard turn-by-turn directions for users to plot their route, the app
can be customized to offer a female robotic voice to guide you while
on the road. On top of these all there's also the ability to search by
business name (have it suggest the closest matches, too) both
semantically and geographically, includes traffic data and integration
with satellite and street view.
Basically Google Maps Navigation (Beta) comes with 7 major features:

type the description of yourย destination instead of an address
search by voice — Google's voice recognition software will know
what you're talking about
see live real-time traffic conditions in 3D
while en-route your search will pull out results right along your path
— it's nice to know for sure where you can fill in or have a bite
on the highway
you can watch your route on a 3D satellite map instead of the standard
graphical map
3D sat map not enough, how about Google Street View to know how the
turn-off looks like or what restaurants are ahead
car dock mode
The new Google Maps Navigation has no ads and is free, so I can bet our
paycheck it's going to be HUGE!