This means you can look forward to receiving step-by-step directions to destinations in the UK and Ireland on your Android-based mobile phones. Officially still in beta, the Google Maps Navigation application was introduced in the USA last autumn and now you have the facility available in the UK and Ireland as well.

The application has a voice-search technology built in through which you can actually tell your phone where to go and it will figure out a route for you. The application is very useful in the sense that it can with the barest of information supplied to it, direct and help identify, locate and reach points of interest. The app understands places and business names.

Having said that, you still would need a web connection as a substantial part of the information that the app requires to operate lies in space. Though you can still be hampered by a momentary loss of signal. This much has been acknowledged Mr Steve Lee, Group Product Manager for Mobile Maps, Google.

Normally the maps are displayed in three dimensions, though it is possible for you to opt for the satellite view. The satellite view is similar to the Google Earth or Street View. Regarding the quality of the maps, Mr Lee observed, "It offers the detail that you've come to expect of Google Maps experience."

The application covers not only business places and prominent destinations, but will also help you locate nice places where you can eat, or the nearest petrol station, etc.

Understandably, Google is reluctant to divulge information on when exactly the application would be made available on non-Android mobile phones, especially the Apple iPhones.