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Broken Nokia Maps - is it just me? [updated]

Published by Steve Litchfield at 7:15 UTC, September 15th 2008

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. [update] From the comments so far, it seems that map data for some countries is simply broken.

My trip was across the South of the UK and, as usual, Nokia Maps was my navigator. Maps 2.0 was in my shiny new v30 firmware for my N95 8GB and a few days ago MapLoader offered to replace my UK maps with a new version - who wouldn't say no to better maps - so I upgraded.

And I still don't know what's wrong - the application or the maps (though I suspected the latter) - all I do know (as per the screenshots below) is that the system isn't now working at all. The roads aren't seen as joined up, which means that the route planning and navigation only works every now and then. Very, very frustrating.

Screenshot Screenshot 

Screenshot Screenshot 

What I need to know is whether my experience is an isolated one. Are you having problems with Maps in the new firmware or with the new maps from MapLoader? Let's see if we can get to the bottom of this!

Steve Litchfield

PS. What did I do to get around instead? Google Maps - but navigation in this is strictly a two person job - one to drive and one (my wife) to shout out what to do!

Categories: Software
Platforms: S60 3rd Edition

News Discussion

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...
seboka
I agree with MaciekBora, use Garmin MobileXT. beats Nokia Maps easily, presently use it on E71, previously on E90.
Unregistered
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.
MBeat
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.
WhO_KnOwS
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
Unregistered
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.
Umberto
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
rajen
We have the same problem with the New Zealand maps.
quack
I used the navigation on Maps yesterday to get me from home down to a town in East Sussex. It took me down all the one track and narrow country lanes instead of doing the simple thing and following the A275 all the way there. I wasn't very impressed!
Mapperz
Yes Mapperz has experienced this lately, there seems to be an interruption in the nokia maps servers when downloading to the memory card.
On the N82 the files seem to be missing even when the download is complete.

Maybe this will be fixed with a firmware update. Reports say that there is a newer version for the N82. But yet to be convinced. NSU says no.

http://blogsearch.google.co.uk/blogs...update&ie=UTF8.

Mapperz
http://mapperz.blogspot.com/
Ratkat
Mapperz

there is a new firmware update for the N82 it is V30.0.019 but it is only available at present for the UK CV Sim Free Product codes 0558756 & 0558752

It does add Nokia Maps 2, but not the latest version.
N95-1
steve, ever tried the free nav4all.com? you will be surprised! check it out!
nokia maps is crap. don't waste your time with it.
ottgrims
I live in a region of Norway where I have to use several ferries. Nokia maps does not know about these ferries and is unable to use them in routes. For my purpose Nokia Maps are unusable.
MaciekBora
Same (similar?) problem here in Poland. Nokia Maps 1.0 had my street, Nokia Maps 2.0 shows it like it is under construction (only half of the street is showing). So, for me Nokia Maps 1.0 was better.
Liam548
You say maploader offered you new maps? When should it tell me if my maps are out of date??

How do i check etc?
slitchfield
I just grabbed the latest version of Maps from maps.nokia.com and installed over the top of the v30 firmware version... and no difference. So I think we can say that it's definitely the maps that are broken. Sigh.

Also, MapLoader is a bit broken here, refusing to see my memory card in any of my phones (Windows sees it OK as disk F)...

8-(
Unregistered
I had serious problems with maps 2 and the navigation. The GPS dropped out, at least on Maps it did all the time, and then it crashed everytime it tried to access the internet. Also the navigation was very questionable, and hard to work out how to do it. Also the traffic didn't work.

In short it was awful and I want my money back!

David - Lightwater
Unregistered
On my N82 v20 I had similar problem after I updated Maps from version 1 to 2 and reloaded the maps. The navigation would not find any route and zooming out on the map would generate random lakes where there really were none. Removing and reloading the maps once again after a couple of days fixed everything for me.

I quess Nokia had some faulty maps on the servers at some point.
gdigenis
steve, have you tried to delete the cities file from your memory card and start over again? if it is the maps this will clear them out and just download them again

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