Quick, think about the last time you used your smartphone on the road. How did you task your mobile phone? Chances are good that, if you have GPS functionality, you used some sort of GPS navigation feature on your handset. You probably also used your mobile phone to look up businesses in a particular area. According to new numbers from Telenav, chances are good that you either searched for Walmart or Starbucks while on the road. Telenav’s data also shows interesting preferences for food and the higher rate of GPS searches in some US cities compared to others.
Thanks to aggregate data from Telenav’s network of 13 million subscribers spread across multiple smartphone platforms, it seems American road-trippers are looking for last-minute supplies and a quick caffeine fix to get them through their journey, with Target, Best Buy, and Bank of America rounding out the top five most-sought retailers. It’s also interesting that Telenav’s data suggests that some US cities are more likely to generate GPS business searches than others. Los Angeles took the No. 1 spot as the city with the highest rate of mobile warriors looking for businesses in their area. The Dallas/Fort Worth area came in second place, with Chicago, Houston, and Atlanta coming in 3rd, 4th and 5th place, respectively.
When it comes to food, “pizza” is the most popular search among Telenav’s user base. Chicagoans are most likely to search for pizza, but New York City is most likely to search for the second-most searched for cuisine – Chinese food. For GPS navigation services, the highest frequency of use comes from Maryland – the rate of nav use in the state is twice as high as the national average. Los Angelinos are the most likely Americans to use Telenav’s navigation re-routing service to side-step driving congestion and traffic. Phoenix, Arizona residents apparently use the gas price feature the most, indicating that the desert city is the most concerned with gas prices in the US.
The take away here is that there’s more to GPS navigation services than just pure navigation services. So, the question is – how do you use your smartphone when on the road?