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.
Read on in the full article.
Bowing to the inevitable but users have certainly suffered grief during OVI Maps v3 long gestation period. On 5800XM for example dependent upon v40 firmware being installed so still many users will feel hard done by.
@unregistered Not true - it requires v31 on 5800 XpressMusic. I know because I've just gone and downloaded it onto my phone.
I can't find an updated map loader yet, maybe that's what will be released at 10:30 😊
I hope the N86 will be added soon 😊
I have just installed it on my 5800 and this takes 9MB of internal memory !!! (cannot be installed on a memory card).
Maybe this is the reason why they could not get it to work on N97 - crashed the phone due to out of memory error 😊
Good news, but Nokia isn't a step ahead of Google in terms of 3rd party development of location-based services on phones. Google APIs for Maps has been around a long time; the android SDK has it as an optional download for developers that want it.
Very smart move, I fully agreed with Steve's aticle and suggestion for Nokkia to do this (great vision Steve/Mystic Meg). It's a big write down on Navteq but I'm pretty certain this is going to be a very good play.
It's just a real shame for me personally that this best move by Nokia for some time won't be available for me as the proud owner of their Symbian Flagship the N97 although it sums up the ownershipexperience of this device, we are always made to feel so special and supported)
I am gutted and totally divided want to seriously praise Nokia and set fire to them at same time (and smash this bloody N97 to pieces) . in Steve.s words GAH!
I have a Nokia N82. I would like to Know if that version of Nokia�s Ovi Maps can run in my phone. If you can give me some information I will appreciate it a lot. Thanks in advance.
Yeah, this is great news. What excites me the most about this is that it will force Google to release nav on s60 google maps. If they don't then Google maps becomes clearly the lesser of the two. Here in Australia, lack of a network connection, or non ripoff connection, (especially out of towns, which is where GPS is most useful) gives ovi maps the edge, but for searching for anything, google trumps ovi hands down. However, free nav.. until Google release nav for s60, sorry, it's going down in the rotation 😊 I tried Google's traffic today on a major highway, it was woeful, we were knee deep in traffic, and it was showing green. This seems to imply that either I'm the only one in Brisbane who actually uses google maps, or they have quite a bit of work to do on their crowd sourcing.. Will be interesting to see if Nokia can flex their handset market share to make an effective crowd sourcing traffic service.
This is an excellent move by Nokia! So what will the workaround for the N97 be, I wonder... Maybe sort out the Maps application so that it can be installed on the 32Gb Mass Memory instead?
No N900 support. Are they kidding me?
I believe Steve suggested Nokia should do this some time ago... Is it possible that they are actually starting to listen? too good to be true?
I hope not. There is a long list of idiotic things about my every single recent Nokia handset - things that are so obviously wrong, that I sometimes suspect the people who design them are not using them. Else how could they do something like that.
Don't get me wrong. I think Nokia makes the best phones out there. Which is why I am always so disappointed when a fundamentally very good phone is spoiled with some utterly stupid 'feature' someone who apparently is not using it decided to throw in.
Or leave out. Something trivial -- like memory. If someone told me of a cell phone maker whose 2009 flagship device does not having 20mg internal memory to spare, I'd say they don't deserve to be in the phone business. But Nokia! Do they?
I am not trying to trash nokia... I am hoping someone there listens and pays attention so that I can go back to loving their handsets. It has been a long time I have loved one -- My E71 comes close... but there are those little things that make the calendar, the camera etc unusable.
The workaround will be that Maps 3.3 will come as part of a new N97 firmware update
Just downloaded this on my 6710 Navigator and it's made a huge dent on my C: memory. Other than that I have to say I'm impressed. It's a huge improvement on previous iterations of Ovi Maps and is incredibly simple to use. Thumbs up Nokia
What are thee chances for the e71? Do you guys think it will get free navigation in the future?
On my E72 the new maps no longer syncs favourites with Ovi. When selected, it just exits the program.
On my e52 the compass no longer seems to work:frown:. Anyone else noticed something similar?
On my E72, the maps r working fine, but the application exists when u try to sign in or try to sync with OVI !! hope Nokia is listening & does some bug fixing ...
Well done Nokia! this definately puts them ahead of Google as far as im concerned they most definately need to advertise this heavily, this would definately make the touch screen phones way more appealing!!!
good to hear the news, but its not gonna change anything on my E71. I have had free navigation for years because i've hacked it.
Good news for everyone else though, NOW if Nokia only started making some good phones we'd be all set.
Very good. I've had free nav since new year because Drive Europe license for 30 days was given away at the start of Jan. Still prefer my dedicated satnav for driving, but will be pleased to use this in an emergency or as a backup.
Seems that Nokia has decided to bring out the big guns in the smartphone battle.
There's gonna be a massacre in store for any smartphone without free navigation.
The drums of war have started.
Unregistered wrote:Seems that Nokia has decided to bring out the big guns in the smartphone battle.
There's gonna be a massacre in store for any smartphone without free navigation.
The drums of war have started.
Nokia is second. Google was first. While not as robust as the Nokia offering, they did do it first. Nokia is actually following.
@Unregistered (near the top)
Wrong. When I installed it it specified only v31 firmware required. I believe this is rolled out pretty much everywhere now. See here: http://maps.nokia.com/explore-services/ovi-maps/downloads#/nokia-5800-xpressmusic/
Stop making up garbage
New OVI Maps for N97 will be available on 28th January.
@Unregistered (just above)
Yes, Google did this first - but in very limited areas and only on Android 2.0 devices. As was so excellently pointed out in this article, Ovi maps covers over 74 countries instantly and is available for a wide range of 5th edition devices - some of which cost as little as �100.
Wrong man... Google does not offer turn-by-turn voice navigation. For google, it's limited right now to a few android devices in the US.
Hi everybody,
Great news! Nokia finally accepted 'All About Symbianw wise advice. Really great!
Now, we just have to wait for Nokia to incluse ISRAEL in it's OVI maps. We are only waiting three or four years, so we can wait a littlr longer (another four years ??).
Come on Nokia, We are getting a lousy service from ypu in Israel. It's time to improve it!
Dodo,
Tel-Aviv, Israel.
Haha, looks like everyone is having the same problem. Ovi Maps, just exists when I try to sign in on my E72... Heh he... Not a good way to start a free service, I am already kind of irritated with it..