Wal-Mart is Nation’s Most Searched for Destination While on the Road
Residents of Maryland are Nation’s most frequent users of GPS navigation
Those are just two of the GPS-related tidbits drawn from data released today by TeleNav, one of the largest navigation services providers. TeleNav has over 13 million subscribers and the just released usage data (collected anonymously of course) offers some insight into how TeleNav’s customers are using the evermore ubiquitous GPS in their phones, cars and standalone devices.
For example, an analysis of December 2009 searches by TeleNav customers showed Wal-Mart topping the list U.S. businesses TeleNav customers requested directions for. The close runner-up was… Starbucks. (Thereby suggesting that as soon as people had shopped at Wal-Mart to save money they blew everything they saved on overpriced coffee drinks???) 
Next up were Target and Best Buy in that order. (As in… went to Wal-Mart. They didn’t have what I needed. I was ‘draggin a bit so I got a mocha-frappa-jeepersthisisoverpriced-achinno. Then I went to Target. They didn’t have it so I headed to Best Buy. Price wasn’t as good but the product was in stock.)
Bank of America came in at number five. (Coming after Wal-Mat, Starbucks, Target and Best Buy… too easy… come up with your own cheeky comment.)
Geographically, Los Angeles is “the city where most GPS searches occurred in 2009″. (Hey, no surprise, Nobody walks in LA.) Dallas/Ft. Worth came in second, followed by Chicago, Houston and Atlanta. (New York is not in the top five… then again, while the cabbies are maniacs they actually DO know where they are going.)
The data even gives some insight into the food choices of TeleNav’s customers. When it comes to “casual food” they prefer pizza, Chinese food, burgers, American food and Mexican food, respectively. (I wonder where “gym” and “Jenny Craig” came in on the list of “past time destinations”?)
As Sal Dhanani, co-founder and vice president, products and marketing for TeleNav explains,
Every month our users are conducting millions of searches while using GPS navigation applications. This data provides a very interesting look into the locations people across the country are searching for while on the road. In addition to searches, our customers are relying on our products to complete millions of trips each month. The data we’ve collected from these trips has helped us identify the features that are most relied on by our users and provides an intriguing look into how GPS usage differs across the country.
The full release, with all sorts of additional interesting tidbits, follows.
National GPS Usage Data Reveals Wal-Mart is Nation’s Most Searched for Destination While on the Road
TeleNav data also indicates residents of Maryland are Nation’s most frequent users of GPS navigation
Sunnyvale, Calif. – March 10, 2010 – TeleNav, one of the largest navigation services providers with more than 13 million subscribers, today released usage data* that suggests users depend on GPS navigation for much more than getting from point A to point B. The data indicates that while customers in various cities depend on some GPS features more than others, when it comes to searching out nearby businesses on the road, drivers across the country seem to be in agreement on their favorites.
An analysis of searches conducted by TeleNav users in December 2009 indicated that Wal-Mart topped the list as the number one U.S. business TeleNav customers sought out while using their GPS service. Starbucks took a close second, proving Americans’ obsession with morning lattes and mochaccinos is still quite strong. Two more large retailers, Target and Best Buy, took the third and fourth spots respectively, while Bank of America rounded out the top five most searched destinations in the country.
TeleNav data from all GPS point of interest (POI) searches for the entire 2009 year indicates that drivers living in or visiting some U.S. cities need more assistance locating local hotspots than in others. Los Angeles took the number one position as the city where most GPS searches occurred in 2009. The Dallas/Ft. Worth area followed in a close second, indicating that while things may be bigger in Texas, it doesn’t always mean they’re easier to find. Chicago, Houston and Atlanta, respectively, rounded out the top five U.S. cities where most GPS searches took place.
TeleNav’s GPS search data also sheds some light on the cuisine preferences of American drivers. Search data from December 2009 showed that pizza is the top food item searched for by customers using TeleNav’s GPS applications. Residents of Chicago led the way in GPS searches for pizza while residents of New York City were most likely to search for the nation’s second preferred cuisine type, Chinese food. Rounding out the top five of America’s most searched food types are burgers, American food and Mexican food, respectively.
“Every month our users are conducting millions of searches while using GPS navigation applications. This data provides a very interesting look into the locations people across the country are searching for while on the road,” said Sal Dhanani, co-founder and vice president, products and marketing for TeleNav. “In addition to searches, our customers are relying on our products to complete millions of trips each month. The data we’ve collected from these trips has helped us identify the features that are most relied on by our users and provides an intriguing look into how GPS usage differs across the country.”
While users in every state depended on GPS guidance to travel, TeleNav’s usage data for the entire 2009 year indicates that residents of Maryland were the most frequent users of GPS guidance, using the technology for twice as many trips per month than the national average. Completing the top five areas with residents relying heavily on GPS navigation to guide them are the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, North Carolina and California.
Traffic remains an issue that many American drivers deal with on a daily basis. To help ease the stress of traffic, TeleNav provides users with real-time traffic information and the option to route around traffic incidents. As one of the nation’s most traffic-plagued cities, it may not be surprising that TeleNav users in Los Angeles chose to use GPS navigation to re-route around traffic more than any other city in the nation. Other top five cities where drivers preferred to use GPS to get around traffic instead of sitting in gridlock included Washington D.C., New York City, Chicago and Atlanta, respectively.
Because TeleNav products are connected, users receive real-time information such as searching for gas stations based on current prices. Data from December 2009 indicates that residents of Phoenix may be the most cost conscious drivers in America, as residents of that city averaged more Gas by Price searches than any other city. In a close second, residents of San Antonio were also looking to save a buck at the pump through Gas by Price searches. Cleveland, Detroit and Jacksonville, respectively, rounded out the top five cities with such economical drivers.
For more information, additional GPS usage rankings and downloadable graphics, visit www.telenav.com/about/pr-national-gps-usage
* National GPS usage data was collected anonymously from users of TeleNav GPS navigation products.About TeleNav, Inc.
TeleNav, Inc. is a leading provider of location based services, or LBS, including voice guided navigation, on mobile phones. TeleNav’s LBS solutions provide consumers and enterprises with convenient and easy to use location specific, real time and personalized features and functions. TeleNav’s flexible and proprietary LBS platform enables it to efficiently provide its LBS to millions of end users, across more than 500 types of mobile phones, all major mobile phone operating systems and a broad range of wireless network protocols. TeleNav’s service providers include Alltel, AT&T, Bell Mobility, Boost Mobile, China Mobile, Cincinnati Bell, NII Holdings, Rogers, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile UK, T-Mobile USA, Telcel, Telecom Italia Mobile, Verizon Wireless and Vivo Brazil. TeleNav’s other partners include Ford Motor Company, Hewlett-Packard, HTC, INRIX, LG, Motorola, NAVTEQ, Nokia, Palm, Qualcomm, Research In Motion, Samsung, Sanyo and Tele Atlas. TeleNav is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.For more information on TeleNav, please visit www.telenav.com. Follow TeleNav on Twitter at www.twitter.com/telenav or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/telenav
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