Nokia Maps without Windows

Discussion for Ovi Maps 3.0 Beta for mobile

29-01-2009 22:10

Map Updater/Map Loader only works with Windows. There's a version of Map Loader that works with some Mac OSX flavours, and that's where support for non-WIndows users ends.

Of course you could make a Map Updater for all current Mac OS versions, and make a Linux version. But:

1) Why not make a Map Update method that works straight from any browser without need to install anything on your computer?

2) Why not make a Symbian version?

It can be done. Downloading maps and unzipping them to the right folder is really a very asy task that doesn't require the hundreds of megabytes of Map Loader/Updater and .NET framework. http://nokiamaps.site666.info lets anyone download maps for Nokia Maps 1 and 2 (but not yet for 3) so you can unzip them into the maps folder on your phone. Works on all operating systems and there's no need to install anything, so you can even do it in hotels, schools, internet cafes, and other places where you can't install .NET and maploader or map updater.

Symbian already has a web browser. New Nokias have a zip manager built in. So feeding maps to your memory card could easily be done without a computer and tons of megabytes of code.

So why not add a Symbian map loader that can 1) download and install maps straight from your phone, and 2) unzip maps downloaded from a standard computer web browser into the right folders? It doesn't take much more than a bit of code to tell the browser and zip manager what to do, so it could be included in the Nokia Maps program itself.

Comments

Submitted by geoffg.ovi on 15-02-2009 03:02.

OK, there may be some value in this but of course the app automatically dowloads map data as needed via its data connection. The PC Maploader is there for people who don't want to use their mobile device data connection. So the only advantage of what you suggest that I can see would be that you could dowload maps in advance if you were going to be driving where data coverage is poor, or more expensive because of being in a roaming situation in another country.

Submitted by B.S. on 24-02-2009 11:30.

A quick and easy solution for downloading map data to my phone.

Such a browser based map loader would end my pain. I had all the time trouble with the map loader, for maps 1.2 it took a half day for download, with 2.0/3.0 w2k wasn't supported anymore and for the XP computers I'm using I don't have admin permissions (company notebook).

Before I found the site666.info site I used for trips outside germany a workaround to have the maps date on my device by avoiding expensive data rooming. The night before I calculated the route in the route planing mode and started a navigation simulation. In addition I scaned the area around my destination in very deep zoom level to have as many as possible map data for the trip. You can imagin what happend, when I had to change my route during the trip, back to the roots and using the paper map.

To download the data direct from the Nokia map server and unzip to my phone was an hugh improvment. What I want is a similar solution, like browser based map loader from Nokia. I will definitive not buy a new computer for some 100

Submitted by HuberDe on 24-02-2009 22:08.

I'm not a main linux user but I work with it and have colleagues which do that as main OS. I think the topic linux is untended from each big company. Linux grows every day and the day will come if linux has a much bigger share in the market than today. One of my cause why I'm not using linux is the bad support for mobile sync tools and so on.

Submitted by mbrett on 20-04-2009 08:22.

I'm sure I read in the Nokia Maps 2.0 User Guide that the symbian based option is already available on the N96. I'm sure it mentioned being able to update maps within Options / Tools / Settings via an extra screen on the N96 possibly.

Here we are:
Nokia Maps 2.0 User Guide (page 20)

"Update Maps

To update maps on your device, select Options > Tools > Settings > Map > Options > Check for map updates, or use Nokia Maps Loader.

To update the Maps application, use the Download! application in your device, or go to http://maps.nokia.com "

This manual is at: http://europe.nokia.com/EUROPE_NOKIA_COM_3/Explore_services/Nokia_Maps/S...

Submitted by Diabo on 19-04-2009 23:48.

May be available on the N96, but what about the dozens of other Nokia phone models out there? You still need a computer with maploader to update maps, or use http://nokiamaps.site666.info .

Submitted by planetf1 on 09-05-2009 14:24.

Sorry missed this and posted here -> http://betalabs.nokia.com/forum/topic/2248

Same feelings though!