Saturday 21 August 2010

Nokia GPS - Ovi Map

22 Aug 2010

Nokia has its free walk and drive navigation for 74 countries in 46 languages now. Maps are cached offline for future use. I found out it works faster, and looks more "eligant" with the 3D view. It is easy to download, upgrade and install with no cracking required. The only thing to complain is the search function which turns out to be poor, having you to key in the search keyword in a pattern in order to get the result.


I have been frustrated by the garmin's slow performance in getting GPS satelite and locking. So I decided to give this a try. It spent me two days doing research and getting the map into my phone.

Here are the steps:
1) Connect your phone to PC via USB and choose PC suite mode when you are prompted with the selection.

2) install ovi maps


Ovi suite is an application which works similarly as PC suite. But this allows you to download your map and navigation voice easily.

3) When you open the application for the first time, you would be prompted to create an account. Please do so and continue with the wizard.

4) To download the map, make sure you are connected to PC using PC Suite/Ovi Suite. From the home menu, choose Map icon (5th from the left), which looks like a green compass. I am not sure if login is required but I realized that I have to login or else I would not be able to connect to the map serve and get directed to the screen below. Here you can choose the country maps and voice guidance from the list.


5) In your phone, go to Menu, GPS, and Maps. Click on Option, Settings, then Navigation. Choose the Drive Guidance and Walk Guidance as the one you have just downloaded from Ovi Suite.

That is all!!! You will be able to get the signal really fast but I am not sure if it charges since Nokia claims it is free. However, I tried to change my phone mode to offline, and sadly I could not get the signal and consequently the navigation failed. I am going to Nokia center to verify this again.

One more tips for you all. I really do not like the search function. What I would do is to get the GPS coordinate of a location in Internet, set the coordinate and save it as one of my favourites to my phone. When I need the navigation, I will just have to choose from the favourites with no searching the place required.

Well, too bad that I could not find anyway to directly enter the coordinate. There is a workaround though.

1) Go to Menu, GPS, and Landmarks
2) Click on Options, New Landmark, then Enter Manually.
3) Fill up the details of the place like name, description and etc. Scroll down towards the end and you will see Latitude and Longitude. Key in the coordinate here and click Done.

When you need to get the navigation from your current place,
1) Go back to GPS main menu, choose Drive or Walk.
2) Choose Set Destination
3) Choose Favourites
4) Select the one you have saved into the favourites.

Happy Touring:)

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