[maemo-users] Google Maps Navigation takes a mobile turn

[From: Kevin T. Neely]

Ovi Maps uses Navteq maps.  The engine is different from the mapping
application on the N8x0 series tablets.

On Thu, Oct 29, 2009 at 12:13 PM, Mark <wolfmane at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Thu, Oct 29, 2009 at 11:54 AM, Kevin T. Neely
> <ktneely at astroturfgarden.com> wrote:
> > That really works?  I've been rocking mobile navigation for a couple
> years
> > with Ovi Maps (formerly Nokia Maps), and more recently waze.  The first
> is
> > excellent, the latter very promising.
> >
> > I understand that Ovi Maps is not quite ready for primetime on the N900.
> > Maybe one of the reasons they postponed the launch?
> >
> > K
> >
>
> The Wayfinder Map app that came on the N8x0 is excruciatingly painful
> to use for actual navigation. The map data (at least in my area of the
> USA) is extremely out of date, and the POI database is severely
> lacking. You can't load the whole country at once, only the western or
> eastern half, and if you're traveling across the dividing line it
> couldn't be any less user-friendly. You can't have more than one map
> active at a time, so even though you can add maps at will, navigating
> between any two of them is impossible. Trying to enter a destination
> is an exercise in futility. If you manually pan the map and place a
> "favorite" and use that for your destination the directions are pretty
> good and the voice prompts are excellent, but there are so many
> obstacles to getting to that point that the app is pretty much useless
> for anything but showing you where you currently are. Plus, the app as
> shipped is crippled to only show your current location - if you want
> navigation you have to pay as much as a whole standalone navigation
> device, but you don't get the stability or any of the other strengths
> of the standalone devices. All of the other "navigation" apps for the
> tablets are works in progress and none of them natively do routing.
> Navit claims to, but if it does they've certainly hidden that
> functionality well. RoadMap does rudimentary routing, but you have to
> create the route manually. If you can't do routing, then you can't do
> navigation...
>
> Neither Ovi nor waze is available for the tablets, and if Ovi is the
> phone version of the tablet Map app that it appears to be, I'm less
> than impressed. You do have to pay extra to get navigation and it more
> than likely uses the same map data. Waze does indeed seem very
> promising, but again they are duplicating much of what OpenStreetMap
> has been working on for years, and everybody would benefit much more
> if they would integrate their technology with OSM instead of striking
> out on their own. OSM already has a huge amount of map data, but the
> user interface is a PITA and they would greatly benefit from an app
> exactly like waze.
>
> I don't own a smartphone, but Android 2.0 may be what changes my mind
> on the matter. Even if I could afford an N900 I wouldn't risk it at
> this point. Maybe if they are still being produced and supported in 2
> or 3 years I'll consider it. My mobile mapping experience thus far has
> been with PDA, Tablet and Laptop map/navigation software, and I have
> yet to find an application - even the expensive ones - for any of
> those that is in the same league as even the worst standalone GPSr.
> The usability of even my piece of junk TomTom is light years beyond
> anything I've tried that wasn't a dedicated unit.
>
> Mark
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>



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