Just in time for the Holiday driving season: Google has released an update to Google Maps for Android (ver. 1.6).  This update offers a number of great additions that Google Maps had been lacking.  The one that stands out most is the built in turn by turn navigation.  This means that my phone (G1) is now technically also a GPS, so I can nuke that from my gift list.  One thing I learned when trying out the Navigation feature is that it requires a text to speech synthesizer app.  You are taken to the Market and the app is right there, free to install.  There is some concern about the size of the Text to Speech, whatever...

A cool feature is the integration of the text search that is part of the overall search tool on the phone.  I fired in a few locations, and it found them right away.  I choose Navigation and the nice robot voice told me where to go.

If you really want to invite trouble, make a Home Navigation shortcut so if you lose your phone (or it is stolen) so whoever finds your phone can find your place... But maybe I am just being a little paranoid now, huh?

I am not sure how much I will actually use the navigation feature, as it is quite draining on the battery.  But If I needed to find some place I haven't been before, I might fire it up.

Learn More:

• Android Central
• Google Mobile Blog