Yeah I live in one of the few countries in the world where OVI Maps does not have a presence ,all it shows the major highways and big yellow spaces , for a person like me who is on the move in the city but still baffled by finding places my live saver is Garmin XT which works amazingly well on my Nokia N8.

The latest version of Garmin XT for Nokia Smartphones ( S60v3 and above ) can be downloaded from here <Garmin XT v5.00.50>  and costs a mere USD 100 , a small price to pay for lifetime of free Navigation in Pakistan .  For maps try the freeware maps of Karachi and whole of Pakistan available at PkMaps ( Registration required maps for major cities of Pakistan are free ) which are made by enthusiast cartographers and are updated every 3 –6 months .

The good thing about Garmin XT is that it offers search in categories as set by the map makers and for Karachi it includes amusement parks to eateries .  For now PKMaps forum is giving out their pro version for free which also has limited house number search capability .  Garmin Xt also offers turn by turn navigation with voice guidance which makes it easy to find the way while driving.

With Nokia N8 , Garmin XT is a perfect match as Nokia N8 features A-GPS which connects to GPS satellites in seconds , beside with it’s video out capabilities even through composite cable , I can easily hook it up with my car’s video in system and get a large screen navigation experience .

Just Like Nokia’s Own Voice , Garmin also offers a Voice Making software for free which can be used to change voice navigation in your own language or your kid’s voice , even the car on the navigation screen can be changed from standard blue sedan to a speeding rocket or what ever you want from a vast library available on the net .

We are waiting for Nokia to release their OVI Maps in Pakistan so we can do a head on comparison with Garmin XT and see who wins .

So you think you can do better than the Surfer Dude on OVI Maps , how about like me sick of listening to a robotic voice Urdu directions .

I want my directions my way and in my language the way I want to listen and all this is made possible by Own Voice for OVI Maps .

Available Free of Cost from the OVI Store , Own Voice let’s you record your own directions , fancy your wife giving you directions , how about your daughter or anyone you like in any language you like .  I made mine in authentic Urdu in Pakistani Accent , but looking forward to someone making something in Angelina Julie’s voice which I can download from the tens and soon to be hundreds and thousands of  OVI Voice packs available online .

The snaps below will give you an idea on how it performs and how to use it

OVI Maps , Nokia’s free for all Navigation Tool is great for planning a trip  .  For me the service is of no use in Pakistan as there are no maps available , but since  the maps had been set free , whenever I or any of my colleagues travel aboard , it’s an essential tool for us to plan our trip  . 

In a few weeks , I’m planning a trip to US with family comprising of New York  City among other places .  As our plans are being made , I’m updating my OVI Maps with the point of Interests to see in New York for a 3 day trip ,  so instead of me carrying an enlarged map of NYC and looking all touristy , I can simply take out my E72 , startup OVI Maps and see where I am and where I need to go .

New York is a Jungle of humanity , a place where you can easily get lost , if you don’t know the way and for a guy like me who easily loose his bearings in an un familiar place  I could end up at Rocker Feller Center while walking to Macys .

This is how I’m planning my trip to NYC .

Our plan is to stay at Westin at Time Square as it’s in the middle of everything that is New York from Broadway to Times Square with Avenue of Americas and Macys a short walk away .

So the First POI on my list was the Westin New York , an easy find on OVI Maps Online , just searched for Westin New York and there it was

I’ve chosen as my favorite also later to be used as the starting point for my routing .

My second priority is food , being a Muslim , I just can’t enter any eatery and order a steak , my meat had to be halal  / Kosher so the next search was Halal .  Wow OVI Maps found me Five places with the nearest one only half a Km away from my hotel .

I’ve heard a lot about the Halal cart Guy standing near Hilton , so the next search was Halal Cart ,  no results so I searched for Hilton and add it to as a favorite , will find him there I was told.  I added Hilton as Halal Cart Guy to help me remember the place

As I will be going with family including my wife and two kids , Statue of Liberty  and Central Park are next on the list .

An easy find , just enter the name and OVI Maps find the place instantly .

For Statue of Liberty when I clicked Drive , OVI Maps took me all the way from New Jersey , so I’ll better stay with walk maps , and take bus .

My Wife is interested in shopping so 5th Avenue and Macys are on our list ,  again an easy find , check out the 3D rendering of Saks and Rocker Feller Plaza

The electronic junkie in me wants to find a Best Buy and it’s there on OVI Maps just 1 km away  

I was also able to find a Starbucks around the corner and Food Emporium a short walk away from my hotel for breakfasts , even Subways were shown but the search also showed Subway the Eatery although marked by their icons

As I don’t frequent clubs , for night life , I’m finding some Cinemas near my  hotel. OVI marked Lowe’s Theatre just around the corner

As Friday may come between my holidays , the holiest day of the week and I have to go for my Friday prayers , OVI Maps even found me a mosque a short walk away from my hotel.

Now I have all my favorites marked on the OVI Map on the web

Now it’s time to Sync them with OVI Maps on my Phone .  Simply click Favorites and choose Sync with OVI and within seconds , all my favorites on the web are synced with my phone . I’ve already downloaded complete maps of New York on my phone through Nokia Maps Uploader for offline search of POI’s

I have some suggestions for Nokia

While using OVI Maps on the web , it was making my starting point my last search and before checking out a new place I had to again make Westin NYC the starting point , can I simply fix a POI as a starting point and run all the searched

Can you also add Subway Maps and Bus Routes in collaboration with the concerned authorities , as when I was searching for Statue of Liberty , it took me all the way from New Jersey by drive , if there was an option I could have worked out the nearest Bus Stop or Subway station.

This is just s glimpse of what OVI Maps can do , I wanted to use it for a three day trip , I got my POI’s , with the amount of data available on the maps you can use it any way you like .

Nokia just released a new promotional Video titled Splash in the Desert , showing how a guy navigates his way into an uncharted territory in the desert uses OVI Maps Navigation to find an Oasis to dive into .  Interesting concept but alas they forgot to check out the coordinates . The coordinates shown in the back ground at 7:34 am were 48 51 N  02 21 E , plug them in Google Maps and I got St Germain – Paris

If that’s not fail enough for you , in the beginning of the video , the background animation is showing the same 48 51 N  02 21 E coordinates with travelling at 110kmph while on screen the coordinates are 23’53’43’ N at 50 Kmph

From 7:34 am to 7:52 am to 8:26 am the background coordinates remain the same at 48 51 N  02 21 E .

Nokia next time check before you release else someday I’ll end up in Hell -  Michigan while going to Aruba

Nokia is going huge with OVI Maps , first it was the announcement that it’s Free For All

Than came the big news that it’s being downloaded once every sec so by the time you are done reading this blog hundreds of mobile phones will have OVI Maps on them and with 1.4 million plus already downloaded and hundreds of millions more phones to go OVI Map is probably the highest and fastest downloaded mobile App in the world .

Nokia is not stopping here and has launched the largest interactive  mobile sign post for OVI Maps in London , weighing 6 Tons and the size of a bus , this sign post accepts  custom messages and even rotates , in short OVI Maps and OVI Maps signposts are definitely WOW

The Video Posted on Nokia Conversations is posted below

Yesterday Nokia has released Free for all Nokia OVI Maps Drive and Walk Navigation in form of OVI Maps for mobile update version 3.03_10 Wk 1  available at OVI Maps , currently available for only 10 devices including X6 , N97 Mini , E72 , 5800 XM and 5800 Navigation  , 6710 Navigator , 6230 Classic , 5230 ,   E55 and E52   ,  with more devices including N900 to follow , it’s a major upgrade .

The main highlights of the update along with Free Licenses are

Integration with OVI Maps online i.e user can sync their favorites with OVI Maps on the web

Integration with Facebook where user can share their location on Facebook .

The lookout of the software had been changed and now it looks more like the OVI Maps beta launched in Nokia World for S60v5 devices .

Lonely Planet Guides has also been integrated in the software although not much in detail ( For Pakistan ) but still they do the job , the guide includes local information , Places to visit , eat , stay , night life etc .

As I’m in Pakistan , the detailed street maps are not available for the country but major highways and some key locations are covered , maybe in the coming months Nokia will launch full fledge mapping for Pakistan

Weather had been added which gives the current weather forecast , this feature had been added from the Nokia Here and Now Application .

Overall OVI Maps for Nokia is a welcome edition and very simple to use,  just start the application and choose the options and you will be all set .

I’ve downloaded it and using it for trial purposes but the feedback will come once I’ve used it for a few days so wait for a detailed overview of Nokia OVI Maps coming up soon .

Nokia is looking at iPhone’s Tom Tom application as a threat and has relaunched it’s 5800 Xpress Music as 5800 Navigation Edition with lifetime Voice Guided Drive and Walk Navigation License on OVI Maps .  The kit also includes Nokia Cr-103 Car Holder Pack including a DC-4 Car Charger , Swivel Adapter Ad-69 and Easy Mount ( Suction Cup ) HH-17 . 

The added feature of the phone is the Chrome bezel as compared to plastic of original Nokia 5800  .

The maps on the phone can also be synchronized with the Favorites saved at maps.ovi.com site via the desktop providing a seamless integration between the both

The phone will be launched in Q3 ‘09 at Euro 285 but the real value lies in the Navigation License which alone costs from Euro 40 to Euro 80 per year but the catch is that the free lifetime NAvigation is limited to a particular region , once activated for other places you have to buy maps so call it sampling by Nokia

The Video below explains how the Navigation on OVI Maps works

What do you think , isn’t Nokia reviving a lot of their phones ?