Broken Nokia Maps - is it just me?

[slitchfield]

Another trip away, another opportunity to really test out Nokia Maps, here in its latest v2.0 version with updated maps. And it all went horribly wrong, with navigation completely unusable. Read on for more and to comment if you've experienced similar problems.

Read on in the full article.

[bartmanekul]

Tut tut Steve, if you were really prepared, you would have a backup satnav program on your phone.

[MaciekBora]

Oh yeah, an app called Garmin Mobile XT - very useful.

[bartmanekul]

Now I think about it, Im sure I saw a similar problem on another forum.

I think they wiped Maps (both app and the data) and reinstalled, and it worked.

[phin]

I'm having the same problem n95 8gb v30, I've reload the maps, that seems to help it but then it went coocoou again. I've reloaded the maps again, cross my fingers. I thinks its the maps or the program writing to the maps. I've check nokia forum nothing there yet.

[st3ph3n]

Nokia maps is great when you want to find something in a city. The online nature of the POIs and the search both work well. However as a navigation tool I think it's utterly outclassed by TomTom and the likes.

[jmvdinis]

That is not new to me...

I think the problem is in the maps... We download a new version (obviously better) and we lose roads, connections between roads and much other information...

I have learned some tricks to work with Nokia (and especially with Maps 2): I use 2 phones E50 and E90 (the last one for all the work, the first one for calls); I do the new map data download to E50, if they are ok, I repeat the download to E90 and use them in my daily trips...

I use Maps 2 (I am in Portugal) everyday with no major problems... Actually I think Maps is the best navigation software for mobile phones...

I agree with MaciekBora, use Garmin MobileXT. beats Nokia Maps easily, presently use it on E71, previously on E90.

Steve - I recently participated in a very small group (6 people) market research session that had a Nokia Maps team member present, and was part of a very few sessions in a very few countries (i.e. our opinions were going to potentially be very influential) looking at the latest version of Nokia Maps 2.0. We had to do fairly extensive prep for this, trying various features out over a week or so. We also all happened to be power users, of both smartphones, and S60, and Nokia Maps, and other mapping solutions (e.g. TomTom, Google, and others).

We spent a couple of hours going in depth (with us giving demos) of what we thought was wrong with Maps. General conclusion? There is a LOT wrong with Maps. I came in with a list of 26 separate points (that I passed to the Maps team) where Maps was significantly (not slightly) deficient.

Maps has HUGE potential, because it is being preinstalled on so many phones, and because it has Nokia behind it. But right now, even in 2.0 it is no more than an alpha-level release. The UI is VERY poorly thought out and designed, in comparison with competing products. There are multiple bad bugs, and many minor ones. It is, quite frankly, shoddy and unusable, if one has access to competing products.

That said, I would like Maps to be the winner, to be the best there is, and so it should be. But there is quite some way to go. It is typical of Nokia that this has a "2.0" moniker. It should be 0.2
However, there is light on the horizon - Maps 3.0 will address (hopefully) many of these concerns, and although I would avoid Maps currently in favour of TomTom for driving and Google Maps for walking, I will take a fresh unbiased look at 3.0 when it eventually arrives.

We all know that Maps routes us in some pretty creative ways at times, but I've noticed it's a lot worse lately. Thank goodness I have a general idea of where I'm going. I was headed to the freeway the other day. I needed to go south, towards the shore. Maps wanted me to head north on the freeway. That's a pretty bad mixup. I don't know how much I would trust it in a really unfamiliar place.

That said, I have not experienced many problems with the maps themselves.

Steve, I experienced a similar issue a while back. In my case, most of the roads were treated as pedestrian areas only, so normaly car navigation was impossible.
From what I was able to gather, the preloaded map data was somehow messed up - reinstalling via maploader fixed the issue.
On a side note, downloading the map data directly off the servers and putting it on the memory card seems to increase the chance of this issue happening.

[Solnyshok]

Totally agree that Maps 2.0 is rather 0.2
Using gmaps, tomtom and garmin mobile xt instead

Steve
Updated N82 with v30.0.019 which reverts to Maps v2.0_2602 and it all went pear-shaped with application freezing, necessitating removal of the battery. Probably unusually I was using SIM without GPRS data connection here and the solution was to disable "Assisted GPS' feature.

I used Maps 2.0 recently in Croatia and yesterday in my city (Rome) without any problem. The navigation has been fluid and the instructions were perfect. I have also Garmin XT but I think it is too slow in navigation mode.
I have a N95-1 with fw20 and I upgraded manually to maps 2.0 then I downloaded the new maps. Perhaps your problem is due the version of Maps you have in the new fw or the problem is the fw itself.

Regards
Umberto

We have the same problem with the New Zealand maps.