I find Ovi Maps on S60 to be a great program and it's a must-have for me. Like I posted earlier, I read somewhere that the Maemo version is not ready yet. I suspect it is a big part of why the N900 was delayed, though I have no direct knowledge of that.<div>
<br></div><div>K<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 10:02 PM, Mark <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:wolfmane@gmail.com">wolfmane@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
Apparently many think that Ovi Maps is just as bad as the tablet version...<br>
<br>
<a href="http://mer-l-in.blogspot.com/2009/10/ovi-maps-really-is-this-best-we-can-do.html" target="_blank">http://mer-l-in.blogspot.com/2009/10/ovi-maps-really-is-this-best-we-can-do.html</a><br>
<br>
On Thu, Oct 29, 2009 at 1:27 PM, Kevin T. Neely<br>
<div><div></div><div class="h5"><<a href="mailto:ktneely@astroturfgarden.com">ktneely@astroturfgarden.com</a>> wrote:<br>
> Ovi Maps uses Navteq maps. The engine is different from the mapping<br>
> application on the N8x0 series tablets.<br>
><br>
> On Thu, Oct 29, 2009 at 12:13 PM, Mark <<a href="mailto:wolfmane@gmail.com">wolfmane@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
>><br>
>> On Thu, Oct 29, 2009 at 11:54 AM, Kevin T. Neely<br>
>> <<a href="mailto:ktneely@astroturfgarden.com">ktneely@astroturfgarden.com</a>> wrote:<br>
>> > That really works? I've been rocking mobile navigation for a couple<br>
>> > years<br>
>> > with Ovi Maps (formerly Nokia Maps), and more recently waze. The first<br>
>> > is<br>
>> > excellent, the latter very promising.<br>
>> ><br>
>> > I understand that Ovi Maps is not quite ready for primetime on the N900.<br>
>> > Maybe one of the reasons they postponed the launch?<br>
>> ><br>
>> > K<br>
>> ><br>
>><br>
>> The Wayfinder Map app that came on the N8x0 is excruciatingly painful<br>
>> to use for actual navigation. The map data (at least in my area of the<br>
>> USA) is extremely out of date, and the POI database is severely<br>
>> lacking. You can't load the whole country at once, only the western or<br>
>> eastern half, and if you're traveling across the dividing line it<br>
>> couldn't be any less user-friendly. You can't have more than one map<br>
>> active at a time, so even though you can add maps at will, navigating<br>
>> between any two of them is impossible. Trying to enter a destination<br>
>> is an exercise in futility. If you manually pan the map and place a<br>
>> "favorite" and use that for your destination the directions are pretty<br>
>> good and the voice prompts are excellent, but there are so many<br>
>> obstacles to getting to that point that the app is pretty much useless<br>
>> for anything but showing you where you currently are. Plus, the app as<br>
>> shipped is crippled to only show your current location - if you want<br>
>> navigation you have to pay as much as a whole standalone navigation<br>
>> device, but you don't get the stability or any of the other strengths<br>
>> of the standalone devices. All of the other "navigation" apps for the<br>
>> tablets are works in progress and none of them natively do routing.<br>
>> Navit claims to, but if it does they've certainly hidden that<br>
>> functionality well. RoadMap does rudimentary routing, but you have to<br>
>> create the route manually. If you can't do routing, then you can't do<br>
>> navigation...<br>
>><br>
>> Neither Ovi nor waze is available for the tablets, and if Ovi is the<br>
>> phone version of the tablet Map app that it appears to be, I'm less<br>
>> than impressed. You do have to pay extra to get navigation and it more<br>
>> than likely uses the same map data. Waze does indeed seem very<br>
>> promising, but again they are duplicating much of what OpenStreetMap<br>
>> has been working on for years, and everybody would benefit much more<br>
>> if they would integrate their technology with OSM instead of striking<br>
>> out on their own. OSM already has a huge amount of map data, but the<br>
>> user interface is a PITA and they would greatly benefit from an app<br>
>> exactly like waze.<br>
>><br>
>> I don't own a smartphone, but Android 2.0 may be what changes my mind<br>
>> on the matter. Even if I could afford an N900 I wouldn't risk it at<br>
>> this point. Maybe if they are still being produced and supported in 2<br>
>> or 3 years I'll consider it. My mobile mapping experience thus far has<br>
>> been with PDA, Tablet and Laptop map/navigation software, and I have<br>
>> yet to find an application - even the expensive ones - for any of<br>
>> those that is in the same league as even the worst standalone GPSr.<br>
>> The usability of even my piece of junk TomTom is light years beyond<br>
>> anything I've tried that wasn't a dedicated unit.<br>
>><br>
>> Mark<br>
>> _______________________________________________<br>
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><br>
><br>
><br>
> --<br>
> In Vino Veritas<br>
> <a href="http://rubbernecking.info" target="_blank">http://rubbernecking.info</a><br>
><br>
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