Telecom Lead India: Airtel today unveiled the Airtel SmartDrive app for Indian subscribers, enabling them to view their location on a map and plan their route from one place to another.

Airtel is the first Indian operator to launch such a service in India.

The navigation app gives real time information on traffic situation on roads around them. It also suggests an alternate route from place A to place B if there is heavy traffic on the normal route.

The app comes with features such as Search Maps for POI (Points of Interests), Turn by turn Voice navigation and Live traffic information

Search for POI enables you to search and get the exact positions for your destinations. Point of Interests (PoIs) are grouped into categories like restaurants, theatres, shopping malls etc. Once the application is downloaded this feature can be used absolutely free of cost.

Live Traffic information enables you to calculate the traffic based on the number of GPS devices being used on the particular road and their average speed and historical trends of traffic. Currently, it is live in Delhi &NCR, Mumbai and Bangalore cities and will be live in Hyderabad, Chennai and Pune by December. The app gives traffic status on major roads in a color coded format as described below with red indicating heavy traffic, yellow indicating medium and green for free flow.

Other features include sharing the app with a friend, trip recorder, Wikipedia information, facility to add frequently visited locations to favorites, and weather information.

Airtel is offering the search and map viewer absolutely free. The cost of navigation will be Rs. 10 per day for daily pack and Rs. 99 per month for monthly pack. Live traffic will be charged Rs. 3 per day and Rs. 49 per month. The company is offering data browsing absolutely free till 30th November, post which normal data usage charges will apply as per the data pack availed by the customer.

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