Over the next few weeks Nokia Maps team will conduct a piece of research for the Drive car navigation feature within Nokia Maps 2.0. We’re looking for a range of users, from novice to experienced, who are based in London, Berlin or Madrid and have been using Drive within Maps 2.0 actively. Hands-on experience with other car navigation products is a big plus too.

This is how it works:

If you are using the Drive feature actively, and are based in London, Berlin or Madrid, and happen to have some free time in your city during weeks commencing with July 21st and July 28th, this is an opportunity for you to influence the development of the car navigation feature for the next software release.

If you would like to participate in the research session in your city (London, Berlin, Madrid) in person, please fill in the next 5 questions online and leave us your contact details.

We will contact some of you within the next few days to check your availability and invite you for a session in your city. In appreciation for your time and your feedback during the research session, you will receive 100€ / 80£, and some cool Nokia Maps goodies.

Oh, and please spread the word!!

Guest blogger: Stefan Gimeson from Nokia Maps team

With Map Loader 2.0 you can buy navigation and city guides directly from your PC!

Map Loader 2.0 includes a web shop where you can purchase and download navigation, traffic information and city guide licenses directly to your device. There is no need for activation, just download and you are ready to explore your world.

The new “Services” tab will let you browse through Drive*, Drive&Walk*, Traffic* and City Guides before deciding what to buy. In addition, the clear and easy to understand graphical representation will show what region is covered by the license. You will see exactly what you buy before buying.

Selecting “Guides” will let you browse through City Guides and Multimedia Guides from all over the world. Selecting one will show you information on the contents and you can download them directly to your device. It has never been so easy to find the right guide for your destination!

New connection mode

Map Loader 2.0 now supports PC Suite connections. This means that you can connect several devices over USB or Bluetooth connection. Mass storage mode is also supported for older Nokia Maps versions and memory cards. In mass storage mode the new “Services” tab will not be available and Map Loader 2.0 will behave like Map Loader 1.x. On startup, a popup will show connected devices and will let you choose the drive/device to use. Make sure you have the latest PC Suite installed (http://www.nokia.com/pcsuite).

Shop

After selecting a navigation license or downloading a guide you will be transferred to the payment page. Enter you credit card data; confirm payment and the license will be downloaded to your device. Your credit card data is sent over a secure https connection. You will also receive an email receipt.

Purchased licenses

In the bottom of the “Services” screen, there is a list of your previously purchased licenses and their expiration date. This will help you to see when it is time to renew you licenses.

Feedback

Download Map Loader 2.0 and let us know what you think! Make sure to uninstall any older version of maploader before installing Map Loader 2.0. Note that this is still a beta, so there are some limitations:

• Not tested on S40, so please don’t use it
• In “Drive & Walk” the navigation region “Russia & Ukraine” is only navigable in Russia.
• Disconnecting and reconnecting a device while Map Loader 2.0 is running can sometimes lead to unexpected results.
• Make sure your phone time is correct before buying any licenses.

* shop content depending on Nokia Maps version

Here’s one more reason for you to finally upgrade to the “final” version of Nokia Maps 2.0: we are going to stop supporting satellite images on the beta client soon.

Don’t worry, just upgrade and you’ll still receive satellite maps as before. (not to mention getting the other cool stuff like network based positioning, which is ultra-fast and works also indoors)

Guest blogger: Martin Ramsin from Nokia Maps team

Nokia Maps 2.0 is now ready to graduate from beta. Since it was announced back in February a lot of work has been done to correct bugs, improve and add new features.

Thanks for all the comments and constructive feedback! We have been reading carefully each and every comment and many of the improvement made to the final Maps 2.0 come from your input, for example:

“Difficult to see what licenses I have purchased” – we added a “My licenses”.
“7 digit Postal Codes does not works in the UK” – works now.
“Difficult to find how to plan a route” – new flat menu structure makes this easier.
“I walk faster than GPS can keep up” – increased the GPS frequency
“Cannot zoom to see route overview in navigation” – added manual zooming
“Show longitude and latitude” – added in Details view
Etc.

The main new feature since the beta is Network based positioning. It will position you really fast, usually within 5 to 10 seconds. It works indoors, on a bus or train.
Network based positioning cannot be used for navigation since it is not accurate enough. However it works just fine for showing where you are (roughly) on the map. A pink circle in the map shows the accuracy of the position. When GPS fix is achieved, this is used instead of the Network based position, and the pink ring disappears.
Network based positioning is now enabled on all A-GPS enabled devices. (E90 users need to install new software update that will be available soon).

In addition to new features and functional improvements, we have expanded the navigable countries with New Zeeland, Venezuela and Chile. You can use Map Loader to get the latest maps.

Maps 2.0 is graduating from beta labs. Check it out on maps.nokia.com!

/The Nokia Maps team

Guest blogger: Martin Ramsin.

The Maps 2.0 beta is getting close to graduate and has been updated today. A lot of bugs have been fixed and some new features have been added. More details on that soon…

Download here.

Thanks for all the comments so far. Your feedback is very valuable!!

/The Nokia Maps team

As Nokia Maps 2.0 beta launch was the obvious highlight of Feb 2008 here in Beta Labs, I asked the Nokia Maps development team to nominate the Contributor of the Month. Seems that it was an easy task:

“Geoff seems to be the frontrunner in the quality of the comments.”
- one manager from Nokia Maps team

“Geoff! Definitely. I don’t even need to check, I remember his name by heart.”
- another manager from Nokia Maps team

Therefore, I’m honored to nominate Geoff as Nokia Beta Labs Contributor of the Month / February 2008.

Congratulations Geoff!!! I’m glad that the Maps team chose you, as you have been an amazing contributor in other threads too. I will contact you personally and ask your physical address, so that we can deliver our humble Secret Nokia Maps Gift Pack to you.

Steve Litchfield writes at All About Symbian:

It’s not every day that you get direct feedback from the team behind a major manufacturer’s software project. Following on from my Maps 2.0 preview, Nokia got in touch, answering some of my criticisms and giving more information about the future of the product. What’s going to be added next to Maps, how to plan routes for free, why the satellite images aren’t quite there yet, integration with Location Tagger and a future web-based map sync tool, it’s all covered.

Nice.

I loved Steve’s comprehensive preview, but even more, I love the fact that our Maps team truly listened - and took time to talk back. I think we have a big and hairy win-win thing going on here.

Guest blogger: Martin Ramsin from Nokia Maps team.

It’s been a week since the release of Nokia Maps 2.0 Beta and the team has been busy demoing the new features on Mobile World Congress in Barcelona but now we are back and listening to you.

Thank you each and every one of you for sending feedback. Both positive and negative feedback is more than welcome. We are eagerly reading your comments as it will help us improve our application. Here are some answers for the questions & comments. Please keep on commenting, we are continuing to monitor this page for further feedback, improvement ideas, errors and comments :).

The application works in S60 3rd edition feature pack 1 onwards. You can check the 3rd ed FP1 devices from this link.

The UI errors which are visible in E90 will be fixed, no doubt about that. Sorry for not putting it under the known problems. The “not on road” issue in Drive is another one that we are fixing. Map tutorial and traffic feature will be available in the final release.

The route planning feature is not gone. You can in fact make a route with multiple stopovers - this is new in Nokia Maps 2.0. Just select a location, press the joystick and select Add -> to route. You can add other stopovers from the Options-menu. Another way is to go to Favorites – Routes and create a new route from there…

If you experienced that a license purchased with previous version of Maps is no longer working it is probably due to a bug in the application but the license is not lost. Try to do an update (Options – Extras – Drive&Walk – Select the region – Options – Update) or in worst case install the official version of Nokia Maps at maps.nokia.com.

The list of purchasable navigation regions will grow in the final release. There will also be larger navigation regions available by then.

As mentioned earlier we have new map data available for Nokia Maps 2.0. Be sure you have the latest map data when using the walk feature since there are much more pedestrian pathways, for example through city parks, for many cities. Use the new Map Loader to update the maps.

We will go thru all your ideas how to improve the Nokia Maps application user interface. Thank you once again for the valuable feedback :).

Nokia Maps team

Something strange happened at noon yesterday, and I started receiving angry calls that Nokia Maps 2.0 Beta web page didn’t work, even though everybody was raving about it in Barcelona, in the press, and in the blog world. Uh.

We got the website quickly back to business, but as it happens, some cache-thing made the problem persistent for many of you.

So, if you still don’t see the pages, you should either:
1. Clean up your Browser cache memory, or
2. Enter a “?” or “/” after the URL (for example: www.nokia.com/betalabs/maps?)

Sorry folks for the hassle.

Guest blogger: Martin Ramsin from Nokia Maps team

I am proud to announce the Nokia Maps 2.0 Beta!

“Drive” is what we call the new and beautiful car navigation feature. It looks great and is easy to use while driving: change “views” by clicking left or right, select functions from a “grid” menu. The Drive interface is transparent black and the turning arrows dynamically show the exact angle of the turn. Check out driving time and average speed for your journey and plan multiple stopover routes.

I’m very excited about a new feature that we call “Walk”. It lets you find your way in the city when you are on foot. It is easy to use and discreet (no voice instructions). Small “breadcrumbs” are shown where you have been walking so you easily see what direction to take. “Walk” is included in the navigation license for car navigation but can also be purchased separately. If you have already purchased car navigation with older Maps version, you will now get “Walk” free of charge!

The beta offers satellite maps in 200 cities worldwide. Satellite maps can be turned on when browsing the map and also in “Walk”. The satellite maps are downloaded over the air and are saved automatically. Next time you start Maps the satellite maps will be there, no need to download them again.

The search is much, much improved. It is now as simple as typing part of street names or a place in a search box. Search results are listed by category (addresses, cities, restaurants etc.)

Places are personal. You are now able to save places as favorites, create collections (folders for places) and even save your routes.

What else? Better 3D mode and overall faster, better, and more beautiful

Upgrading to Maps 2.0 Beta is easy. You can continue using your old maps and licenses. It is also possible to upgrade your map data using the new Map Loader (also provided from beta labs). You need to run the Maps beta once first in the phone before connecting to PC.

Grab Nokia Maps 2.0 Beta while it is hot and let us know what you think about it!

Note that since this is a beta, some less important functions may be ‘limited’. We are still working on the traffic feature for car navigation. We’ll keep you posted when that gets available too.

Tip 1: Shortcut keys in the map

• Use * and # keys to zoom in and out in the map
• Use to 0 key to go to “My position”
• Use the 1 key to change map modes (2D, 3D, Satellite, Hybrid)

Tip 2: Shortcut keys in Drive mode

• The “grid” (options menu) layout imitates the keyboard. Items in the grid are also accessible directly through the keyboard.
• The same shortcuts are also available in Walk