If you are a frequent traveller and you take a plane as often as your car, then a map on your pocket is a “must” for you. I don’t mean a paper map of the location you are going to, but a device that can help you to find places of interest or to orient yourself wherever you are.
If you have a high-end mobile phone, you can install a map application on it, that’s all. In my Nokia N95 I have two applications installed: Nokia Maps and Google Maps.
Nokia Maps was already installed on my device (that is provided with a GPS) while I decided to install Google Maps in order to verify what application was better in terms of features and usability.
NOKIA MAPS
Nokia Maps is very well done and together with the ability to download maps in realtime through the data connection of your phone, you can also download maps to your memory card, an option that lets you save a money and time. Unfortunately you can do this from a Windows PC only and not from my Mac, but I hope they will solve this issue pretty soon.
In my opinion the weak point of older versions of Nokia Maps was usability. The menu navigation was not that intuitive and sometimes the behavior of the application is not which you expected. Fortunately I have to say that this problem has been addressed a little bit with the latest version, but I believe there is still some work to be done.
In addition, another problem I found is that sometimes trips are not calculated. I made some tests to plan a trip from one place to another and sometimes I got “Itinerary not found”.
On the contrary, maps are very clear and the ability to use it in conjunction with a GPS in order to navigate from a point to another is great. This service is provided by Nokia for a fee, but you can get a three days trial license directly from the application. Three years of service cost € 69, not that much. The problem, with the N95, is the GPS itself. Unfortunately it is very slow and sometimes using it is painful. You can choose to use a bluetooth one, but my experience is not that positive. I look forward to trying it out on the new Nokia N810.
Of course you can search for Hotels, restaurants and place of interest in general, like Airports, Travel Agencies, Companies and many many others, that you can highlight on your map. Unfortunately you don’t have a satellite view of places, a feature that Google Maps have, but you only have a 3D version of the map. Here is a 3D view of a map of New York, with the Empire State Building.
GOOGLE MAPS
Speaking about Google Maps, a version with GPS-support has been released just a few weeks ago. I haven’t tried it in conjunction with the N95 GPS, but I’ll do it pretty soon. Moreover, it’s a Symbian native application while older versions were Java -based.
Maps are clear and navigation is intuitive and really fast. Being a Google application, searching for a place of interest is very easy as well as very fast: you just need to type something like “Hotel Genio Rome” to find what you need. If multiple search results are available, you can choose what to see on the map from a list (results are taken from Google Local).
Unlike Nokia Maps, you can choose from a “normal” view and a satellite view. Here is the Empire State Building:
Google Maps doesn’t allow you to download maps to the phone’s memory card so if you use it intensively and you don’t have a flat data plan it can be a problem. Besides, while it lets you calculate itineraries and plan trips easily, you cannot use it to navigate from one place to another. From this point of view, Nokia solution is far better.
In conclusion both products are very well done and each of them has some strong and weak points. I have to say that I’m using both, since it depends from what I need to do with the map. If you want a GPS Navigator straight into your phone, Nokia Maps is for you. On the other hand, Google Maps integrates the power of Google Search and I recommend it for quick searches of places or points of interest.
Bonus: I have seen a preview of the map application provided by Italian Yellow Pages, named “Visual“, on a Nokia phone and a Samsung Windows Mobile phone. I have to say that it was very well done and really fast (at first sight, faster than the applications above, but not sure yet). In addition, but for Italy only, you can search for restaurants and hotels with the ability to watch videos of them. Fantastic! I look forward to downloading it as soon as it is officially available.
google, google maps, luca filigheddu, nokia, nokia maps
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great post!!
I have installed the Google maps app on my N95. My quick impressions (and why I won’t be using it):
Pros:
Fast
Smooth operation
Easy Interface, the menus make sense
Cons:
Does not have an option for keeping the backlight on
Does not go into much detail for places like South Africa (unlike the Nokia maps, which seem to have the whole worlds road marked)
The pros would easily outweigh the cons, if only I didn’t live (far) away from the mainstream like I, and most of the world, do.
Albie, I can understand your position, you are right.
Unfortunately, Nokia Map Loader is a royal pain in the behind. It requires you to install loads of stuff, only works on windows, and adding new maps means that you have to download the maps you already had all over again.
Fortunately you don’t need Nokia’s maploader-from-hell:
http://nokiamaps.moo.no
Works on any operating system with any browser, and you don’t need to install anything. Now you can finally add maps on locked-down computers like at work, in school, internet cafes, or straight from your phones built-in browser.
Nokia Map Loader only works on Windows, needs .net framework, and if you add a new map the map loader deletes all your existing maps so you’ll have to download them all over again.
But you don’t need Nokia Map Loader. http://nokiamaps.moo.no links to all maps on Nokia’s smart2go server. Works with any browser on any operating system, including Mac and Linux. No need to install anything on your computer, so it works when you’re in a hotel, school, at work, or in an internet cafe.
If your phone talks WiFi or 3G you can add and update maps from your phone’s web browser without even touching a computer.
One thing that should be mentioned..and is IMO very important..is the difference that if you travel somewhere outside your country..in the case of nokia maps you can download maps into your phone and use it without a data connection abroad. With the google maps this doesn’t make any sense since it relies heavily on the data connection to provide the maps.
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