TomTom is showing off a preview of version 1.1 of its app for iPhone and iPad at CES 2012. The update will bring a social aspect in to what is normally an individual travel experience.
Don’t assume TomTom is trying to snag a piece of the success known as Waze Social GPS. TomTom seems to be taking a different approach to social navigation. Instead of creating somewhat of a social network within itself, the TomTom app will soon be able to grab information from existing social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. For instance, when traveling to an event listed on Facebook, the app can pull the location in from the event page and set it as your destination automatically.
Just as TomTom brings the information in, users can also send information right back out. Drivers can post their destination and arrival time to Facebook or Twitter or send to a friend via email or text message.
This is but one small step toward a future of social GPS and TomTom knows that. I’d imagine that this update will eventually be expanded upon with more features for sharing your life on the go with friends. Perhaps ways to report the traffic like in Waze could sneak into the app.
TomTom expects to release version 1.1 of the app for iPhone and iPad by the end of this quarter.