My Own Navigation Software

I have done B.Tech, in Information Technology and have worked for a GIS (Geographical Information System) company. After working for a year, I thought of making my own navigation software. I started my research, on how to create a navigation software. I didn’t had any experience, of developing a mobile application so it was a very tough task for me. A few days later, I came to know that a friend of mine is a mobile application developer. I called him and asked him to help me. He agreed to help me, to create the software and became my partner. I told him about the logic behind the application. I told him that, first we need to scan the map of a particular region.

The maps are scanned using high-end scanners. The map is divided into different layers. The most important is the base layer, on the top of which there is a layer for each object. The objects refer to roads, rivers, houses etc. Then, a database is created in a query language software which contains two spatial columns. These spatial columns contain X and Y co-ordinates for a particular layer.

For example, if I want to view the map of India, the base layer would be the Indian map which would be in the background. On, the top of the base layer you can turn on or off the other layers. Suppose, I want to see the Indian map with only the roads, I can turn on just the base layer and the road layer.

For navigation, the GPS (Global Positioning System) device will get my location. With respect to my location, the map is downloaded. As I will move, I change my position and that position will be sent in the form of co-ordinates by the GPS. A dot on the map, will be the indicator of my position. This dot, on the map will move according to my position.

We needed some more people to join us, as it was very tough for only two people to create the whole software. I called up, two more friends of mine and told them about the software. They also joined me and now we were four partners. Two of us were hard core coders, one was designer and I was the one who told them all the logic.

We started, with the Delhi map and it took us a month to scan all the maps and create the databases for the layers. It took us another month, to create the overall design of the application and one more month for the testing of the application. In total, it took us three months to develop the navigation software, for the Delhi map. 

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.