Ovi Maps for mobile updated, and a few words about positioning
Fri, 2010-03-19 10:26Written by Kee, Ovi Maps team
Hi all,
Firstly many thanks for your comments! These have been extremely helpful for both the current release and future ones. As you might have noticed, yesterday we updated the Ovi MapsBeta page with a newer version. There are no major changes but we’ve tweaked it here and there to improve the stability and fix a number of installation problems. As we approach the final stages of this release we would like to ask you to continue reporting your feedback via the forums and provide your thoughts via the surveys on the Beta Labs page – we really appreciate these!
Now, onto the 2nd part of this blog….
A number of you have been asking us to explain the new “positioning” in Ovi Maps – especially now that we have replaced the “GPS indicator bar” from the bottom right hand corner of the screen.
Basically, here is how it works.....
The GPS position is indicated with a red dot and the map zooms in to a certain zoom level to provide a good overview.
There is no visual difference between GPS positioning (picture below) and the WiFi positioning at the moment but we are looking to improve this in future releases.
For cell-ID positioning we show a halo (the red circle around the dot – as shown below). When you have a position fix and you don’t interact with the map, we pan the map to your position fix and zoom in or out to display the whole halo.
If you zoom in, the halo will get more transparent until it's not visible anymore to avoid a full screen overlay of the map. When you zoom out, the halo gets less transparent to show you that the position is not accurate.
When there is no position fix or the position gets lost, there is a grey dot on the last known position (if there is one) and the “back-to-my-position” (top left hand corner) button is blinking. Also, you can see on the top information bar that it will display "Searching for position" - as shown in the example below.
I hope this has provided a better understanding to the new positioning and we’ll be back soon to discuss some of our new ideas with you to make this even better.
Many thanks again for your support and feedback.
Kee
Ovi Maps team
Comments
Thanks Kee. Your a hero.
mbrett
N97 RM-505 (Product Code: 0585262 (Vodafone UK)) FW 20.0.019
N95 8Gb (Product Code: 0558787 (UK)) FW 31.0.015
http:///www.twitter.com/MartynBrett
http://www.n97geeks.com
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Thans, Kee! now I understand it much better. My main complain, though, is WiFi positioning seems to be trusted the same as GPS positioning, but certainly here in Chile WiFi positioning locates you anywhere but near your position :)
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N97 mini / 0585508 / FW 11.2.045
5800 Xpressmusic / 0561618 / FW 31.2.008
N95-3 / 0551733 / FW 35.2.001
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MacBook Unibody - OSX 10.6 - iLife '09
Ditto that, this clears things up somewhat, excellent. Have covered it here too on Nokiausers.
http://www.nokiausers.net/Nokia-Beta-Labs/Nokia-Beta-Labs-Explains-the-N...
www.twitter.com/MickyFin
www.twitter.com/Nokiausers
Great explanation! Do you know if Nokia will provide turn-by-turn on the e75 models?
umm.. iam in Morocco-Melilla and i updated 2 ovi map 3.04(115)..i gt a problem nw...everything seems 2 be working fine but theres no gps signal..the map says waiting 4 gps signal and nothing happens..i waited 4 1 hour..i still no signal..kept it like dt 4 2 hours bt all it says is waiting 4 gps signal..can someone help me..or realease a fix 4 dz??..pliz..wud really appreciate it..
Still do not like the idea ...
I want to know how accurate the position is ... Coz you know there is a big difference on the location depending on wheather its calculated by 3, 4, 5 and 6 satelites ...
Please make it optional .. let ME decide wheater I want signal bar there or no !!!!
While I welcome the improvement with wifi and cell positioning, I also think there should be SOME kind of on screen notification about the method of currently used positioning system and its accuracy.
For example it would be nice if it says WIFI, Cell or GPS. If it is Cell then to display "Cell (1500m)" which would mean the accuracy is 1500m, and if GPS is used to display something like "GPS (4)" which would mean GPS with 4 active satellites.
As it is now I have no idea if the positioning is based on cell or GPS signal, and if the displayed position is accurate or not. How can I trust it then?
Just make some pointer that it says the positioning system used and its accuracy. The rest of the Maps is perfect!
and Ovi Maps 3.04 for S60 v3??
Looks interesting -- any news on an update for Maemo/N900?
Sounds really good here! Public release imminent?
Nothing has been done to improve route algorithm, No automatic day/night theme switch using light sensor. Still no signal strength on the right side.
Nokia 5800 Navigation Edition,
Tomtom Go720,
Ohio, USA.
That automatic day/night theme switch sounds really good! One + vote from here for that!
Can we have something for "older" phones? e.g. N82,E71, N79.
Best Regards,
Suyog
Hi,
I've tried both versions of 3.04 and have decided to revert to 3.03 as on my 5800XM the instability issues (crashing out etc) have proved too much. I haven't missed the GPS fix bar and agree with the thinking re using a "dot".
The area that has most disappointed me has been the loss in 3.03 and later of map rotation when using My Position mode. Since map rotation is there in Drive To mode, the functionality exists. However, sometimes users aren't necessarily aiming for a particular address and the lack of map rotate means you have to think hard as to exactly the which way you are traveling. I hope this is fixable.
Thank you
Is it working on N82
Will it work on E71?
I also prefer to choose if i want a signal-bar OR the new system.
I like the Signal-Bar much more, because at one look you can see how good the "connection" to the satelites is.
Hey everyone, I´m Andres from Colombia and I need help because I can´t finde the cell ID- positioning application in ovi maps. If anyone could help me how to start this option It will be great. Thanks bye
How about using different colours in the “back-to-my-position” button?
Maybe like this:
blinking red: no sat fix / searching
red: poor sat fix (4 sats)
orange: weak sat fix (5 sats)
yellow: normal sat fix (6-7 sats)
bright green: good sat fix (8-9 sats)
dark green: strong sat fix (10-12 sats)
@wolfgangster: Do like that idea, but we would need a similar thing for the Pointer based on teh colour system when in Navigation. Mentioned about the colour system somewhere in the forum already I think.
mbrett
N97 RM-505 (Product Code: 0585262 (Vodafone UK)) FW 20.0.019
N95 8Gb (Product Code: 0558787 (UK)) FW 31.0.015
http:///www.twitter.com/MartynBrett
http://www.n97geeks.com
If you find a post helpful give it a thumbs up.
I would also like to see the signal bar from V3.03 returned. It provides a very easy way to tell how good of a position one can expect. Please make it an option.
Other than that though the software has been excellent.
not sure you have got your problem solve? If you tried all way to get good gps signal, Not the best solution, the worst case is to restart your phone may help. And i think nokia may have to look into this.
eu também gostaria de ver a barra do status fix,do lado direito inferior.
pois é uma segurança bem visível,no acto da condução.
já agora,para quando actualizações de mapas...
obrigado.
Just returned from Paris, France where I used OVI Maps on my 5530 XpressMusic using a separate BT-GPS-356 device coupled by Bluetooth. Not 100% satisfactory. GPS lost signal if I was standing in the 'shadow' of a building. 5530 constantly asked for internet connection. Never could get 'voice guidance' to work.
OVI Maps worked great on PC for trip planning and recording 'Favorites'. Uploaded all of my friends' Paris recommendations to my account then transferred to my Nokia. Very strong programme for sharing information.
I took many GPS readings in front of favorite restaurants, shops and places of interest. I think we'll see a trend in retailers and restaurants posting their geo coordinates on their website and business cards to show how trendy they are. I did get 'interference' when walking by shops that used Bluetooth to promote themselves until I turned off my phone's 'visibility'.
The "Explore' feature is great! The 'Walk to' feature made it easy to decide whether we should take the Metro or walk.
We're excited to see OVI Maps mature and become even more sophisticated.
Will it work on N85?
When u release ur ovi maps for s60 3rd??? Anyone gonna reply this question???
I have recently used the N97 and the GPS application, on a trip in spain.
It works surpricingly well!
I have three issues that bather me;
1. The voice anounsment is often very late when driving in a modest speed.
2. I would also like to use it when I am walking in the forrest.
3. It would be valuble to have track saved (at least when you are in the forrest)
A resonable detaild manual could do as well.
Regards
Olle
Olle
I have recently used the N97 and the GPS application, on a trip in spain.
It works surpricingly well!
I have three issues that bather me;
1. The voice anounsment is often very late when driving in a modest speed.
2. I would also like to use it when I am walking in the forrest.
3. It would be valuble to have track saved (at least when you are in the forrest)
A resonable detaild manual could do as well.
Regards
Olle
Olle
Hi,
For me maps 2 had better address search capability. Give us the option to type the street name (or the first few characters), city etc in seperate field and do the search the way maps 2 did, because many times you do not know the exact spelling of a steet or suburb that is more than 10km away. With maps 3 if you do not have the exact spelling and you type only the first few characters of the streetname and suburb the search delivers no results.
With maps 2 if you were in a hurry (or did not know the exact spelling) you could just type the first few caracters of the streetname and suburb and it would display a list of results even for locations hunderds of kms away. The search in maps 3.04 does not deliver any results if you type part of a city's name and part of a streetname.
All the new features is good, but useless if you cannot find a place you want to travel to.
Regards
Gouws
Thank you for the intense work since two years!
I'm using Maps on an N97mini and the only thing now preventing me to just drop my previous GPS is the (apparent?) lack of handling large sets of POI at a time.
I've seen others discussing radars or speedcam databases; this is absolutely not my thing, but I'm a camping-car lover and I use to maintain on my GPS some 5~6000 POI indicating a variety of campings, parkings and camping-car-compatible rest areas in Europe.
I believe there are many other such uses where, being part of a forum or a club, you get access to such large POI databases, as I see various "how-to" about the way to loading them on GPS from makers X or Y.
I tried a sync via OVI Maps, but unless I missed something, I feel only one-POI-at-a-time is permitted, which is definitely not possible for me.
Is there a way?
If yes I definitely would post it on my favorite camping-car forums ;-)
What I sort of expect is the description of a textbased format, and the place where I could drop a POI file inside the N97mini...
All the best for Maps in any case!
Hervé
I second the "save track" wish...
I am not sure if anyone else has this problem. I have this problem in v3.03 and it is still in 3.04 beta.
The problem is that voice guidance is not played out at all. This happens 50%-70% of the time.
I just totally reset my phone today and reinstall v3.04 beta. It started out pretty good and I thought it was fixed. As I tried it more, it started not to play the voice guidance.
Any help is appreciated.
fatboyw, when I upgraded to the "free-guidance" version I got a curious question at the first launch: I was wifi-connected, in a setup that allowed internet connections, and the app told me to first chose a voice, then it had to be downloaded (again?).
Once I did this, indeed the voice guidance played OK.
Can you maybe try launching the app while connected to internet, just to check if you don't need "a voice download again"?
Hi Herve5, thanks for the suggestion. In my last full device reset, I completely deleted the map/voice files from the memory card, installed maps 3.04, install maps and voice files from Ovi Suite, configured voice guidance and other things.
It worked fine at the start. As I tried more and more, it started not to work about 50% of the time.
hi i'd like to suggest
1) a drive shortcut or even better still a (drive search) shortcut that you can put on your home screen so i can use it as a voice guided sat nav without having to go through loads of menus and button presses just to be able to type in the address i want to get to.
2) speed camera warnings active even when not using it to guide you, with the option of choosing the alarm sound the volume of the warning and the distance from the camera the warning is given
3) a turn "around if possible" voice if your going in the wrong direction so you have the option of turning round rather than following a ridiculously long route to get back to where you started from.
4) a delivery route planner which would allow you to put multiple addresses in and it would guide you the shortest or fastest route round back to start
5) a shortcut to music playing on the ovi screen. i used to use tomtom on my n95 and play mp3's using bluetooth through my car stereo, all at the same time. i'm using a nokia n97 mini now with ovi maps now and it's very jumpy i chose the n97 over the iphone especially for it's multitasking capabilities, Whats going on there?
thanks a lot.. it's very good article.
Okey Oyna | Okey | Rottweiler | Tavla
I understand that you want to make the whole Indicator-Thing easier, but i would like to decide for myself if i want to use the "GPS indicator bar" or the new method. For me the "GPS indicator bar" was better by far, because you could tell how good your satellite-fix is.
after i update to 3.04 it consumes more of my phone memory
I agree with Battlebird23, with GPS indicator bar, I can tell how accuracy my position is, especially when you use the same icon for GPS positioning and Wifi positioning.
Yesterday I tried to monitor my way in tram with ovi maps - there was NO time when my position was accurate (just internal gps, not a-gps, no other methods). It was ALWAYS about 10 to 20 meters away and always it looked like solid gps fix. I'd be able to go without gps signal bar but I'd like to now how much gps fix is solid. Do the position dot in more colors in dependance on accuracy of lock. Do a color haze similar to cell-id (other color preferably) illustrating the accuracy ring or something. But let us somehow know how much we could depend on it, please.
Ovi maps team,
It's been nearly a month since the last post & we haven't hear any response from your side....please response...thank you.
Hi,
I'd like to suggest the feature of deactivating the GPS and still be able to search through the maps, without eating up the battery.
This feature was present in the first version of Maps 3.00
Thanks,
JAn
(Italy Nokia 5800XM)
Please bring back the GPS indicator or at least put an option to enable it. Listen to your customers. How are you "Shaping the future together" if you won't even listen to us?
Damn Nokia, yes bring back GPS indicator, its bad enough the app isn't as good or fast as Google Maps.
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