Nokia Bets Big On Mapping

angry tapir writes "Nokia and Oracle have joined forces on mapping, with details of the deal to be announced at the Oracle OpenWorld conference. To differentiate its smartphones from the competition, Nokia is betting big on location as well as imaging technology. Oracle is expected to add Nokia's mapping technology to its applications. Part of Nokia's location strategy is signing deals for the use of its Navteq mapping technology with as many companies as possible. Besides the deal with Oracle, Nokia has recently announced contracts with car makers BMW, Mercedes, Volkswagen and Korean Hyundai, which will all use Navteq map data in some of their vehicles. Garmin will also start using Nokia data on transit services and walking routes to power a new Urban Guidance feature, which will be available as part of its Navigon app for Android and iOS. Nokia's most important partner on navigation, though, is Microsoft. All smartphones based on Windows Phone 8 will have Nokia's Drive application as standard, while Microsoft's Bing Maps geographical search engine uses Nokia data."

Re:Catching up

[Anonymous Coward]

but it's not available offline.

Re:Catching up

[UngodAus]

Screw map parts, you can download map countries with Nokia's mapping solution, not just the current "navigation". The big differentiator with Nokia maps is the ability to operate without a data connection. Android can't do that yet (even with the saving feature).

Re:Makes sense

[Romwell]

. Because they've got some fantastic competitors in Tom Tom, OpenStreetMaps, Google and yes, even Apple. Unless they "Get it right" and come up with a bloody good reason for people to switch from their cost-free-and-good Android Google Maps, they're just throwing money into a bottomless pit.

Actually, Nokia gets it right and Android doesn't. Nokia's maps are free, and you can pre-load the whole continent on your cellphone, and use your GPS and naviagation offline (helpful for hiking in most of the US where there's no signal, to say nothing of data connection). Nokia also offers turn-by-turn navigation with text-to-speech in real time, while many cheaper navigation devices don't. In short, you can't even compare Nokia Maps to Google Maps; the latter is much better for looking POI, but for navigation Nokia Maps takes the cake.

Re:Makes sense

[Hognoxious]

ctually, Nokia gets it right and Android doesn't. Nokia's maps are free, and you can pre-load the whole continent on your cellphone, and use your GPS and naviagation offline

If you can get their wanky PC suite to connect to your phone so you can install them. And if it doesn't randomly deinstall them (presumably) because you haven't used them for a while...

Re:Makes sense

[Anonymous Coward]

Why bother, you can install the maps on the phone itself, no PC involved.