BARCELONA, Spain/PR Newswire — Garmin International, Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd. (Nasdaq: GRMN), announced that Garmin Mobile XT users will soon have access to Google Local search and Google’s Panoramio picture sharing.

Garmin Mobile XT is an all-in-one software solution that turns smartphones with internal GPS into full-feature Garmin navigators. These new Garmin Mobile XT capabilities will be available to customers for no additional cost and will allow them to navigate to locations found on Google Local or geo-coded photos found on Panoramio. This announcement was made in conjunction with the GSMA Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, Spain, and will be on display at the Garmin booth (Hall 7, booth #7C37)

“By adding Google Local search and Panoramio to Garmin Mobile XT, customers will have more points of interest and navigation options than ever before,” said Charles Morse, Garmin’s director of mobile and online marketing. “Garmin Mobile XT is already compatible with over 100 GPS smartphones, and we expect this number to increase as more smartphones are introduced with internal GPS.”

The Google Local search capability on Garmin Mobile XT allows users to harness more points of interest information via the world wide web. By selecting “Where to?” and “Google Local”, customers can type in keywords as they would if they were on their desktop computer. In addition, Garmin has created a “quick search” feature that lets users search Google Local via categories – such as food, lodging, fuel, and more – rather than typing a keyword into the Google Local search box. Search results are based on the user’s current location and are sorted by geographic relevance. Detailed information can be displayed including descriptions, business address & phone numbers, and a rating from Google. Once the user selects a location, they can save the destination to their favorites folder, call the destination, or navigate to it with Garmin’s intuitive turn-by-turn, voice-prompted directions.