Nokia finds new direction in navigation

As part of its recently announced Ovi services strategy, Finnish vendor Nokia has given its mobile navigation services a new direction.

Speaking at the Canalys Navigation forum in Barcelona this week, Michael Halbherr, Nokia’s director of Location Based Experiences, announced the integration of Nokia Maps into Ovi.

Launched in February of this year, the Nokia Maps application and the Nokia Map Loader for PC’s have each been downloaded over 1 million times, but Halbherr also announced an undated version of the platform.

The updated Nokia Maps application has a new streamlined user interface with improved nearby search and detailed categories as well as a data download counter in the map view and a GPS status indicator, showing when the device is connected to the satellites.

An improved Map Loader claims to transfer the maps up to ten times faster than the first version and enables downloading the voice guidance files.

Nokia is also updating the map coverage during the second half of 2007 to bring the total number of countries covered to over 150, with more than 50 of them navigable.