LBS

Nokia’s HERE Maps sold to BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen

After months of negotiation, Nokia sells the HERE Maps division to the German consortium, BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen for $2.71 billion (£1.73 billion). The deal would see HERE Maps turn into an open platform, which all car manufacturers can use for navigation and mapping inside vehicles. The three German car makers plan to offer the platform to Fiat Chrysler, Renault, Peugeot, Ford, Toyota and General Motors, allowing them to use the mapping service for free without licensing issues.

BSNL Launches Mobile Broadcast Service BSNL buzz

BSNL, India has launched, BSNL Buzz, a cellular broadcast service to be available on mobile phones. The company has partnered with US based technology fi rm Celltik for this. BSNL buzz would offer a fully managed high value interactive service on home screen of the users. It would provide interactive services like content, news, contests, subscription packs, coupons and advertising. It will also offer LBS in seven Indian languages such as Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Malyalam, Kannada and Telugu besides English. www.teleanalysis.com

Smartwatch navigation app for the visually impaired

Novartis has released a new Apple Watch and Android Wear app geared at helping visually-impaired people navigate their environment. The app is one of two Via Opta apps that have been available on the iPhone since August 2014, but a new upgrade adds additional features and brings Via Opta Nav onto a wearable for more convenient navigation. It provides turn-by-turn navigation instructions, similar to driving navigation apps like Google Maps. Voice guidance and vibrations alert visually impaired people to turns, intersections, and landmarks. Users can also ask the app for their exact location, add waypoints to their route, and search for nearby destinations. http://mobihealthnews.com