Nokia Maps 2.0 — GPS Obsessed

Nokia Maps 2.0 Gets Lonely Planet Travel Guides

by Justin

If you’ve ever watched Lonely Planet on TV, you’d know that it’s a great show. Give a couple of animated travellers minimal travel supplies and then send them off to check out the coolest sights in some of the world’s most attractive destinations. Of course, it’s more than just a TV show-it’s a travel information company, one that publishes books, digital travel guides, maps, and more.

Now, in an interesting partnership, Nokia will distribute Lonely Planet content via its Nokia Maps service. Over 100 destinations are now available for which travellers can download guidebooks that’ll help them navigate to local hotspots in whatever city they happen to be in.

Lonely Planet’s CEO Stephen Palmer calls the deal “genuinely transformational” and it is, taking Nokia Maps’ location-awareness and making it ‘hyperlocal‘ rendering it more functional for users. For Lonely Planet, it takes a traditional media company’s business model and removes all the time, space, and place boundaries giving the company a super-targeted syndication platform. I’m genuinely impressed.

Business models are designed to make money though. Individual guidebooks will set you back EUR 7.99 each and are found under the Guide section of the Extras menu of Nokia Maps 2.0. If you don’t yet have Nokia Maps 2.0, it’s freely downloadable here.

via nokia

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August 20, 2008 No Comments

India Gets The Nokia 6210 Navigator With Nokia Maps 2.0

by Justin

India is a market in which GPS is set to explode and one of the biggest companies behind location’s incredible growth in the country is Nokia. By penetrating the country with their mobile handsets where they currently boast a 63% market share, Nokia has set up India to the Eastern world’s Silicon Valley of location-based innovation. That said, it was no surprise that Nokia unveiled their GPS-enabled Nokia 6210 Navigator with Nokia Maps 2.0 in Bangalore. Not only does Nokia Maps 2.0 offer real-time voice and visual guidance, but the 6210 Navigator also features a built-in compass for quick pedestrian navigation.

Upon its release, the India 6210 Navigator will have built-in maps of 8 Indian metropolitan areas including Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Delhi (NCR), Hyderabad, Jaipur, Mumbai and Pune. Gradually more cities and towns will be added after clearance from the country’s defense ministry and the surveyor general.

Rather than charging a fee for the phone, Nokia is supplying the phone for free as an introductory offer with an agreement to download 200 maps over 6 months for which user’s will pay a license fee. Of course, downloads require data transfer and service provider’s will charge for this. Post-introductory offer, expect to pay Rs. 18, 000 for the Nokia 6210 Navigator, or about $427.50US.

via thaindian

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August 7, 2008 No Comments

Nokia Maps 2.0 Out Of Beta With A Bunch Of New Features

by Justin

Nokia Maps 2.0

Nokia Maps 2.0 is ready to graduate from beta with a whole new list of features added to the service all thanks to tester suggestions and feedback. Some of the new features include a “My Licenses” category to see what licenses you’ve purchased, the addition of 7-digit postal codes in the UK, a flat menu structure for simplified route planning, increased GPS frequency, manual zoom, and the addition of latitude and longitude coordinates under the Details menu. The flagship feature added in the beta phase is network-based positioning which will position you within 5-10 seconds on a map using a pink circle. Once the GPS position is locked the pink circle disappears and the GPS position is used instead because it’s more accurate. This feature works on all AGPS-enabled devices, but users of the Nokia E90 mobile phone will require a software update that will be released in the near future. And for residents of New Zealand, Venezuela and Chile: you’ll be happy to know Nokia Maps 2.0 now works in your countries as well.

via nokia beta labs