Ovi Maps for Nokia

How it works

Ovi Maps is a free application available for GPS-capable Nokia phones (14 models are currently available here). Over 140 maps cover almost every country and more than 60 of the maps include turn-by-turn navigation with voice instructions for walking or driving. Ovi Maps are often pre-loaded on new mobile phones. Alternatively they can be downloaded from www.nokia.co.nz.

Performance

We tested Ovi Maps using a Nokia N97 Mini held in a Nokia CR-117 car cradle.

Over several hundred kilometres of testing, the N97 Mini navigated well and made very few errors. It gave excellent, comprehensive instructions ahead of time, such as “at the roundabout take the second exit, then turn left.” The N97 Mini’s map accuracy was excellent and it only took a few seconds to recalculate a route when thrown off.

On one route the voice instruction was incorrect – it told us to “go straight for two kilometres” but we came to a T-intersection where we had to turn right. The map screen was correct but the voice instructions didn’t match. On two occasions it didn’t pick the “fastest” route, but would still have got us to our destination with only a slight delay. These kind of minor errors are common even with dedicated in-car GPS units.

A more significant problem was a sporadic inability to calculate routes. On several occasions when the unit tried to calculate the route to a destination, we received an error message saying “route not found”. This even occurred on routes previously taken and logged in the history menu. Sometimes if we drove 100 metres and re-entered the information the unit would calculate the route, but not always.

We tried to fix the problem, including phoning the Nokia Care Centre, but were unsuccessful.

Note: For best performance Nokia phones use “assisted GPS” (mobile phone towers used in combination with satellites to pinpoint your position). For this you need to be connected to a network and use a small amount of mobile internet data. We found navigation without assisted GPS OK, but using the assisted GPS function was more accurate for small movements.

Ease of use

We were able to use Nokia Map Loader to download maps for any country, as well as download different voices in English and some other languages. We could also ensure we had the latest map updates for free.

Downloading Ovi Maps to a PC and transferring these to the phone via a USB connection was quick and simple.

The Nokia N97 Mini’s screen (3.2”) is easy to read. Maps are adjustable to 2D or 3D and have day or night settings. Street names are listed on screen and a “dashboard” can display speed, travel-time, and time and distance to destination. There’s also an accurate speed-limit warning. Route preferences can be set for speed or distance, as well as for taking or avoiding certain types of roads (such as unpaved or toll roads).

Searching for locations and POIs wasn’t easy with the Nokia. POIs often weren’t listed in the correct category – for example, the Mercure Hotel couldn’t be found in a search of the “Hotels” category but was found with a general search from the main screen.

There was no predictive text for entering data and often we had to enter the full address, including the suburb or location, otherwise we’d get a message saying “nothing found”. The small keyboard also made typos inevitable.