comScore today released data from the comScore MobiLens survey, reporting a 68 percent increase in the use of mobile mapping and direction services across Europe in the last year. In February, more than 21 million mobile users age 13 or older in the EU5 countries (U.K., France, Germany, Spain and Italy) used their mobile handsets for navigation.
The highest growth among EU5 countries was seen in the UK market, with an 86 percent increase to 5.7 million mobile map users. Italy remains the second largest market for mobile mapping and direction services with 4.9 million users, but has experienced the least growth (53 percent) versus one year ago. Germany ranked third with 3.9 million mobile map users, followed by France (3.5 million) and Spain (3.1 million).
According to comScore, among those who accessed maps via their mobile devices for the three month period ending February 2010, most (68.2 percent) accessed those services in a car or other vehicle. 35.3 percent of the total users accessed the services while using public transport; and 27 percent did so while walking, running or cycling. Mobile subscribers using handsets with advanced positioning technology, known as assisted GPS (A-GPS), are more than 8 percentage points more likely (71.7 percent) to use maps in a vehicle than those without (63.9 percent). The largest difference can be seen among those who use map and direction services on public transport, with 41.5 percent of A-GPS users have accessed the services compared to 28 percent of non A-GPS users.
"The higher incidence of A-GPS usage in cars suggests that the superior speed and precision in these devices are being used for more than just identifying locations – they are being used as full in-car navigation systems," says comScore Senior Analyst, Alistair Hill.
"That these services offer similar functionality to premium services without the significant price-tag has certainly contributed to their early success," continues Hill.
"Mobile mapping services also have potential for integration with other location aware services, such as mobile social networking applications that provide links to friends and insights on surroundings and, subsequently, offer great promise for the location-based advertising market."