Nokia today announced that it is releasing a new version of Ovi Maps with free walk (pedestrian) and driving (car) turn-by-turn, voice guided navigation functionality. Ovi Maps has global coverage, with 74 countries covered by its navigation services. Maps for all regions will be available, for free, for loading over the air or pre-loading via a desktop computer. Traffic information and city guides, from Lonely Planet and Michelin, will also be made available at no extra cost. There's an initial set of devices, in terms of availability, with more compatible devices to follow. See below.
This is an industry-shifting move; Nokia is essentially changing the economics of the consumer GPS navigation market overnight. It will give its phones a significant differentiator on shop shelves and has long term strategic implications for the future of location services. Read on for further details and analysis.
The announcement should help Nokia sell more phones because it means every Nokia Symbian phone can have a label on the box that says 'Comes with Navigation', without adding any extra (visible) cost. Providing free, voice-guided, turn-by-turn navigation, traffic information and travel guide functionality with global coverage is a very significant consumer draw, which other manufacturers will find difficult to match.
Key features of Ovi Maps
* Global navigation coverage - navigation functionality is available for 74 countries in 46 languages. Car navigation is via voice guidance with turn by turn directions and on-screen directions. Traffic information (congestion, safety [camera] warnings) is available in 10 countries. Pedestrian navigation is via on-screen prompts and a breadcrumb trail, which shows you where you have been and where you are going.
* No hidden costs - all navigation, traffic information and travel guide information is free of charge for the lifetime of the smartphone. Although it should be noted that you may be charged for any data usage by your operator.
* Hybrid technology - Maps and navigation routes can be downloaded over the air. However, maps can also be side-loaded via a PC and the navigation system still works even if there's no online connection (good for areas of low signal coverage o r when roaming). The maps are vector-based, which are less data intensive than bitmap-based maps typically used by other services.
* Typical mapping and GPS navigation functionality includes: maps for 180 countries with 2D and 3D maps, satellite and terrain maps, saving of favourites and routes, powerful postcode-level search and points of interest database, context sensitive weather and local event information, and editorial travel content for more than 1,000 destinations with listings for sights, restaurants, hotels and more from Lonely Planet and Michelin.
* Desktop sync - Sync with the PC, browser-based, Ovi Maps (maps.ovi.com), which allows you to transfer favourites (locations) and routes in both directions. PC browser compatibility: Windows (Internet Explorer 6, 7, 8 and Firefox 3, 3.5), Mac (Safari 3, 4).
* Social sharing - Nokia's Lifecasting concept, which was previously available as a stand alone beta, has been added to the new version of Ovi Maps. It allows you share your current location, status and photos direct to Facebook.
The new version of Ovi Maps (3.3) is available to download from nokia.com/maps.
The initial list of compatible Nokia devices includes: the Nokia N97 mini, Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, Nokia 5800 Navigation Edition, Nokia E52, Nokia E55, Nokia E72, Nokia 5230, Nokia 6710 Navigator, Nokia 6730 classic and Nokia X6.
Further devices will follow over the next few weeks and months, following testing and customisation. (In particular, the Nokia N97 isn't supported because the Maps 3.3 installer needs (in the order of) 20MB free disk space on C: and this would present problems for many users - a workaround is apparently coming in a week or so, possibly in the form of building Maps 3.3 into the firmware itself, eliminating the need for a separate download)
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I think this is the biggest news from the guys at Espoo since the launch of the N95 three years ago. Time to sell my entire Garmin stock! Look for GPSs in the market section shortly.
hyeah:
P.S: Where the eff is support for my N900? Dumb move not to support your flagship device on day zero Nokia!
This is an industry-shifting move; Nokia is essentially changing the economics of the consumer GPS navigation market overnight. It will give its phones a significant differentiator on shop shelves and has long term strategic implications for the future of location services. Read on for further details and analysis.
The announcement should help Nokia sell more phones because it means every Nokia Symbian phone can have a label on the box that says 'Comes with Navigation', without adding any extra (visible) cost. Providing free, voice-guided, turn-by-turn navigation, traffic information and travel guide functionality with global coverage is a very significant consumer draw, which other manufacturers will find difficult to match.
Key features of Ovi Maps
* Global navigation coverage - navigation functionality is available for 74 countries in 46 languages. Car navigation is via voice guidance with turn by turn directions and on-screen directions. Traffic information (congestion, safety [camera] warnings) is available in 10 countries. Pedestrian navigation is via on-screen prompts and a breadcrumb trail, which shows you where you have been and where you are going.
* No hidden costs - all navigation, traffic information and travel guide information is free of charge for the lifetime of the smartphone. Although it should be noted that you may be charged for any data usage by your operator.
* Hybrid technology - Maps and navigation routes can be downloaded over the air. However, maps can also be side-loaded via a PC and the navigation system still works even if there's no online connection (good for areas of low signal coverage o r when roaming). The maps are vector-based, which are less data intensive than bitmap-based maps typically used by other services.
* Typical mapping and GPS navigation functionality includes: maps for 180 countries with 2D and 3D maps, satellite and terrain maps, saving of favourites and routes, powerful postcode-level search and points of interest database, context sensitive weather and local event information, and editorial travel content for more than 1,000 destinations with listings for sights, restaurants, hotels and more from Lonely Planet and Michelin.
* Desktop sync - Sync with the PC, browser-based, Ovi Maps (maps.ovi.com), which allows you to transfer favourites (locations) and routes in both directions. PC browser compatibility: Windows (Internet Explorer 6, 7, 8 and Firefox 3, 3.5), Mac (Safari 3, 4).
* Social sharing - Nokia's Lifecasting concept, which was previously available as a stand alone beta, has been added to the new version of Ovi Maps. It allows you share your current location, status and photos direct to Facebook.
The new version of Ovi Maps (3.3) is available to download from nokia.com/maps.
The initial list of compatible Nokia devices includes: the Nokia N97 mini, Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, Nokia 5800 Navigation Edition, Nokia E52, Nokia E55, Nokia E72, Nokia 5230, Nokia 6710 Navigator, Nokia 6730 classic and Nokia X6.
Further devices will follow over the next few weeks and months, following testing and customisation. (In particular, the Nokia N97 isn't supported because the Maps 3.3 installer needs (in the order of) 20MB free disk space on C: and this would present problems for many users - a workaround is apparently coming in a week or so, possibly in the form of building Maps 3.3 into the firmware itself, eliminating the need for a separate download)
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I think this is the biggest news from the guys at Espoo since the launch of the N95 three years ago. Time to sell my entire Garmin stock! Look for GPSs in the market section shortly.
hyeah:P.S: Where the eff is support for my N900? Dumb move not to support your flagship device on day zero Nokia!