

Nokia to Offer Its Maps for iPhones and Android Phones - dvdhsu
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/13/nokia-here-maps-iphone/

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fungi
> Nokia has emphasized the power and thoroughness of its mapping database

only if you assume tokyo is a rice paddy with a train line through it
<http://here.net/35.6825729,139.8357904,13,0,0,normal.day>

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brianobush
zoom out; there are 23 wards (sections) in Tokyo. This is a zoomed in section
of a couple wards on the water (with a river inlet).

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fungi
turn sat on <http://here.net/35.6825729,139.8357904,13,0,0,hybrid.day>

it is smack in the middle of the sprawling metropolis.

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kryptiskt
Don't forget Firefox OS! :-)

This makes sense on many levels, Nokia is currently a niche player in
smartphones and they have made and continues to make big investments in
mapping. The best way to monetize that is obviously to step outside their own
hardware and build a separate mapping brand. The upside is far greater than
whatever incremental sales they would have got from having good mapping on
their phones, if there even would have been any, maybe interest in an
ubiquitous mapping solution helps to market the phones as well.

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vladikoff
yeah I agree, Firefox OS is probably the only platform that will benefit from
this application.

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Gustomaximus
They seem to be revisiting this a bit. They announced a similar thing almost 2
years ago and then took it back. Then released a Android/iPhone version in
2011 (though as a HTML5 page not app), and now again in 2012 as an app....

2010: [http://gizmodo.com/5479932/nokia-confirms-ovi-maps-will-
appe...](http://gizmodo.com/5479932/nokia-confirms-ovi-maps-will-appear-on-
android-but-will-that-be-a-nokia+branded-android-phone)

2011: [http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/25/nokia-maps-officially-
arr...](http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/25/nokia-maps-officially-arrives-on-
ios-and-android-touts-offline/)

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tmcw
> But Nokia’s Lumia smartphones haven’t sold very well. So why give away its
> secret sauce to rivals?

Providing SDKs for multiple platforms is not 'giving away secret sauce', it's
just selling proprietary stuff in a different way.

Offline support was announced by Google months ago in their 'afraid of Apple'
media event.

3D maps are already done by Apple and everyone has already discovered that
they are no silver bullet, and need more explanation for why they're useful.
As one friend put it, they're the MacGuffin of maps: everyone feels motivation
to have them, but for no big reason.

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freehunter
Using my new Nokia Lumia 920, I was quite disappointed in the maps. Not
because they're lacking anything that I used from WP7, but because they didn't
add the number one feature I was looking forward to: Nokia's excellent 3D maps
based on WebGL that they offer on their website. Apple has very nice 3D maps
on their new Maps application. Nokia has excellent 3D maps in the browser. Why
they didn't integrate this into the phone, I do not know.

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viggity
They don't have 3D maps in the "maps" application, but they do in the "nokia
drive" application. I love it, I'm considering purchasing another nokia to be
my dedicated GPS unit in my car.

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freehunter
Interesting. I have the 3D maps enabled in Nokia Drive, but I haven't see the
3D map data that is enabled in the WebGL version. I do live in a city where
this data isn't present on their website, but if those handful of cities is
the only ones they have I'm disappointed.

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adolph
Link didn't work for me. Mobile version did:
<http://mobile.nytimes.com/bitsarticle?articleId=123018>

I didn't see a link to the actual web app. Here it is: <http://here.net/>

It looks like they don't have an app store app but have a mobile app available
at here.net.

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hnriot
I hate it when an article concludes with something to the effect that the app
is awaiting apple app review. By the time the app gets on the store the buzz
created by the press has waned and I have forgotten it. If the app store had a
url placeholder that would be bookmarkable while the app is pending it would
solve this problem. Searching for "here" is obviously unproductive. The app
store's search is incredibly lame. Even when I use the actual app's name it
fails to find it, let alone when it's misspelled (beam[e]r, re[e]der etc)

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_gm
here.net = slow.net or is it just me..

