Google Maps Navigation comes to Canada and mainland Europe, remains free as a bird

Patience has had to be your foremost virtue if you were eager to use Google Maps Navigation outside the US or UK, but you might be in luck today as a sizable new batch of countries is getting the free turn-by-turn nav service activated. Googleites in Canada and most of mainland Europe will now be able to hear their Android (version 1.6 and above) giving them voice directions, and as an extra bonus, some nations are also seeing voice search activated, with Canada and German-speaking countries among them. Google’s clearly not sitting on its laurels here, so why not power up your phone and let us know how well it finds its way around De Wallen?

Update: The full list of countries has been made official now:

“Today we’re launching Google Maps Navigation version 4.2 in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland for Android devices 1.6 and higher.”

Google Search by Voice has also been confirmed, it’s rolling out in French, German, Italian, and Spanish versions today — with iPhone and BlackBerry compatibility to boot!

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Google Maps Navigation comes to Canada and mainland Europe, remains free as a bird originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 09 Jun 2010 06:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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