Digital market research company comScore has said that the mobile map audience in the US grew 39% in past year.
In a US study of mobile map usage based on data from its comScore MobiLens service, the study found that 48 million mobile users accessed maps on their mobile device during the three month average period ending May 2011, an increase of 39% from the previous year.
comScore said the growth was driven in large part by the increase in smartphone adoption.
The study found that map usage via mobile applications was the primary access point for smartphone owners as the map app audience doubled in size over the past year.
More than 48 million mobile users accessed maps on their device in May.
The study also found that map usage among fixed-Internet users saw a slight decline in total audience in May 2011 versus the previous year, dipping 2%, while having a larger audience of 93.8 million visitors.
comScore senior vice-president of mobile Mark Donovan said the strong growth in mobile map usage and flattening of desktop map usage is indicative of broader behavioural shifts being wrought by smartphones.
Donovan said, "For years, consumers have been able to check directions on their desktop computers prior to leaving their home or office, now smartphones allow people to skip this step and access maps on the go, as they need them, showing off one of the most powerful capabilities of mobile — just-in-time-information."
The study also found that the most utilised types of maps were graphical maps with turn-by-turn directions (64.0% of mobile maps users), followed by 48.3% using a graphical map without turn-by-turn directions and 46.0% using turn-by-turn directions without a graphical map.