HTML5 has been rapidly gaining ground for some time now, and while many have thought that this platform wouldn’t take over for the native app for some time, the recent advance from Telenav, Scout for Apps, looks to bring HTML5 forward by a good few steps. Not only will Scout for Apps provide a lot of extra credence to HTML5, but it will also help make finding things a whole lot easier.

Telenav’s Scout for Apps started out as an iOS-only system released several months ago, but most recently, brought its capabilities out to Android (News – Alert) and Windows Phone alike thanks to an HTML5 base. With Scout for Apps now available on the other major platforms, now app developers of all stripes can add turn by turn GPS navigation systems to their apps. But the ability to add turn by turn driving directions isn’t just limited to mobile systems; Telenav also has a version available for Web apps as well, bringing the ability to find nearly any place from nearly any other. The actual means of adding the navigation functions with Scout for Apps is as simple as adding just one line of code, said to be on par with embedding a video or the like.

This actually serves several important purposes all at once. Not only does it show off the incredible power that HTML5 can have if used properly–its incredible ability to expand offerings across platforms with minimal extra development–but also, it shows the importance of discovery. Whether in streaming video or a place to get dinner, it’s one thing to know it exists, it’s another thing entirely to know how to reach it. Scout for Apps will allow all manner of apps–review apps, genre-specific locator apps and the like–to easily show not only what’s available, but how to reach it from a current location. Users will have much more access to the things that are offered–Shannph Wong, the chief architect at Telenav, actually said that users had switched from apps that didn’t offer Telenav’s navigation capabilities to those that did–and the whole process of discovery will be made much more efficient.

It’s not enough to know what’s out there. Being able to find it–to use it–is also an important piece of the overall customer experience puzzle, and Scout for Apps looks to help do just that.

Want to learn more about HTML5? Then be sure to attend HTML5 Summit- a DEVCON5 Event, collocated with ITEXPO West 2012 taking place Oct. 2-5, in Austin, TX.  Stay in touch with everything happening at HTML Summit. Follow us on Twitter.