OVI Maps 3.0 is here with Terrain Maps

While N97 is taking up all the unjustified ( read my last post ) glory , Nokia Beta Labs has quietly launched Ovi Maps 3.0 to be used on the web and to be sued on the phone . I haven't got the chance to try it but here's the scoop from the Beta Labs Site

First thing you will notice is the new look and feel of our basic map. Colours of the map are now better and performance improvements are easy to detect when panning & zooming the map. Try out zooming higher up and you’ll see that there is much more road and city information available. In close zooming levels we have the new cool 3D landmarks visible in major cities. Totally new for mobile devices are the terrain maps

Sync Beween Mobile and OVI Web

maps are now also available in the web under Nokia’s Ovi brand, so point your browser to maps.ovi.com and register as an Ovi user! This enables you to use the synch feature to keep your favorite places up to date in both mobile & web

Pedestrian navigation (aka Walk) is guiding you now also in the areas where real routing is not possible. Application offers you simple straight line between your destination & your current position and keeps updating the direction when you move. In the city areas routing is smart enough to direct you through parks & squares and it’s not tied to streets & paths only. We also have now some audio & vibration alerts during the pedestrian guidance to help you to detect when there is something happening on the screen where you should pay attention.

In car navigation (aka Drive) we have added a route overview to the navigation carousel. You can check the whole route in a one look and see what is ahead of you. When driving, you can be sure that you are not speeding with the help of the speed limit warner and the lane assistance shows you suitable lanes which to take to keep in your route.

All the improvements did mean that we had to break the map data compatibility with previous maps, so you will have to update both the application and map data. But for this purpose we have created a tool called Nokia Maps Updater, which you need to install to your Windows PC and run. It will update Maps 3.0 and compatible map data to your device for you automatically. We are also providing update for Nokia Map Loader application, so you can add more map data to your device if you want to.

Finally some words about compatibility. Right now the Maps 3.0 beta is available only for Nokia devices based on S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2, but we haven’t forgotten the FP1 users either. The version for you will follow soon. Also we’ve seen compatibility issues with N96, so we don’t recommend using Maps 3.0 beta with it just yet. In Maps 3.0 beta old Maps 2.0 licenses are supported, so if you have Walk or Drive licenses on your device, they will continue working also after the update

Best of All

good news, if you don’t have a Drive & Walk licence to try this out, you can get a 7-day navigation trial licence by visiting www.nokia.com/maps/trial. This trial licence is available in following countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, Czech, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, Venezuela.

Mappingly

Farhan