Before i go about trying to explain my vision, i need to first explain you guys the situation in which i exactly understood the need and purpose for it.
Yesterday, i had been to a music concert with my friends. We were all on our bikes. The concert was happening at a far off place, where the roads were not properly lit up, the access to the main highway was really narrow and was not really a proper road. So when the concert ended, there was a great deal of rush, and needless to say, a traffic jam on the way out. I wanted to test the navigation capabilities and preciess of Maps, so i fired it up, handed it to my friend who was sitting behind me, and asked her to simply check the readings and whether they are correct.
By the time we reached the main road and were out of the jam, there were numerous calls made between the friends, as not everyone knew the way to our next destination, and no one was aware of each other's exact location.
It was then that it struck me, how cool would it have been had all my friends, who were and could use Nokia Maps, could be displayed on my Nokia Maps? Their exact location! and if they were driving, then their movements too! I could exactly know how far behind they are, whether they are also taking the right path or not. And for those who do not know the route, they could simply follow my path on their Maps!
I know this has been requested and suggested before, but now it makes complete sense to me. Friends View is simply amazing, but to make it an actually used app, you need to integrate it with Nokia Maps. People already complain how complex the current phones are, and so the future should be aimed at seamlessly integrating and connecting things, not diversifying further! Nokia Maps has all the pre-requisites of Friends View - Maps & GPS Locaton. Then why do you want to make the users use a different app if they want to view their friends locations along with their own too!
Once Friends View is integrated with Nokia Maps, it is all you need to fire up. You see friends nearby, simply select your friend and "Drive to". Done.
You want to visit a friend who is staying at a hotel in a completely new town? Locate your friend, and drive to him!
The other part of the vision involves integrating Nokia Chat and Conversation app. This one is not that simple and straightforward, but logically, the way forward.
What do both these apps do? Help you converse / chat with your friends. Then why should you use two different apps if you want to talk to them via SMS or via the internet? How cool would it be, if Nokia Account centrally stored all your phone contacts, along with their Nokia Chat accounts. Fire up Nokia Chat, and if a friend is online, talk to him via the internet. If he is not, chat with him via SMSes!
Now back to Nokia Maps. You see a friend, want to talk to him. Select the friend, and the user can choose to talk to him using Nokia Chat. If he is online, Internet. If he is not, SMS.