People staying in Thailand will now never get lost if they carry the latest personal navigation device with them whenever they take to the country's highways.

Thanks to the launch of a personal navigation device (PND) with an updated digital map, people will be able to detect where they are and how to get to their destinations easily and quickly.

Wichai Saenghirunwattana, assistant general manager of ESRI (Thailand), said the trend of using digital maps equipped with a global positioning system (GPS) embedded in a personal navigation device is dramatically increasing.

A high-quality digital map, both accurate and updated with relevant information, as well as smaller and with a more intelligent navigation device, are key factors driving the 200-per-cent growth rate each year.

The market should keep growing at the present rate for the next five years. It is expected that the total world market for GPS-related equipment will be around US$22 billion (Bt804 billion) by 2008. Wichai said the Thai market is moving with this trend.

The company has already sold 40,000 PND's, 40 per cent of which were to younger customers. Users in this market segment demand GPS gadgets equipped with digital maps as well as entertainment features, such as MP3 players and picture viewers. They also require additional information as found in travel guides, such as recommended restaurants, places of interest, shopping venues, current promotions, and real-time traffic information.

"The use of GPS is moving in this pattern. Young people use GPS gadgets and digital maps as well as value-added applications because it is fashionable," said Wichai.

This group of users will open more market opportunities for application providers. In the near future, PND users will enjoy bigger and better applications contained in a small memory card that is easy to use.

"It is similar to the way we use computers - we just put a small memory card into the personal navigation device, and information or applications inside the memory card will be ready for use," said Wichai.

 The company is working with local partners to provide applications for PND users.

Wichai said the market for PNDs is divided into four groups, including traditional users - adventurers who are familiar with the use of purely GPS functions not needing a navigation speech system or a colour screen presenting the digital map.

The second user group is called the "excite" group who love to exercise. Their GPS comes equipped with exercise applications, such as a time recorder, heart-beat monitor, and virtual patterns of exercise.

It is a niche market, which the company has been exploring for a year, even though the market is still very small.

However, the third group is more widespread. GPS functions are embedded in more types of products, not only in the GPS device itself, but also in mobile phones and other personal digital assistants.

The last group of users are explorers in their cars. They need a speech navigation system with a larger colour screen to display vivid maps. Wichai said that all personal navigation devices come embedded with a map ratio of 1:4000 of over 100 towns in Thailand, containing 300,000 landmarks.

"Users will get the upgraded map service free of charge for the first two years, after which they will need to pay Bt1,500 for any upgraded base map," said Wichai.

Asina Pornwasin

The Nation