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16 July 2010, 12:43

Vodafone open sources Wayfinder navigation software

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Vodafone logo Four months after announcing the final curtain for its Wayfinder navigation software, Vodafone has released the project's code under a BSD licence. According to the project's web page, this includes "the majority of all the location and navigation related software developed at Wayfinder Systems".

The distributed back-end servers, tools for their management and for converting map data and clients for Android, the iPhone and Symbian S60 are all included. However, there are only sample maps available. While there is a small server cluster with free map data from the Open Streetmap project, the developers say that the Wayfinder server does not work with them – and that developers are more than welcome to help fix those issues.

Vodafone took over Swedish vendor Wayfinder for €23 million at the end of 2008. Wayfinder's software was to generate revenue for the mobile network provider in the navigation and localised searching sectors. However, when Google first presented a free navigation program for Android and Nokia then introduced free navigation via Ovi Maps, Vodafone closed down its subsidiary.

Among those protesting against the end of Wayfinder were blind and visually impaired people, who launched an online petition to stop Wayfinder Access, an application specially designed for their needs, from being discontinued for Nokia devices. The relevant code for S60 devices can now be found on the GitHub repository.

(crve)

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