Tech Shout!

Nokia maps are now out of their beta stage with new updates. The updates enhance various features e.g. pedestrian navigation, which is being added to multimedia city guides offers satellite images. Also it sports a redesigned user interface.

The updates include various features in categories of Drive, Walk and Discover. The Drive category includes new attributes such as updated pre-defined navigation views including navigation, arrow, bird-eye. Also Top-of-the-line navigation features - signposts, multi-stop route planner - have been added. Moreover, an improved optional Car Navigation equals PND-level car navigation experience with faster routing.

The new Maps update features targeted at pedestrians. With the help of optional pedestrian navigation, users can easily reach their destination walking. It helps users to locate themselves by giving information about the surrounding buildings, streets and parks, and if the device supports, it notifies the direction you are walking in. Besides, this feature is equipped with advanced multi-sensor positioning using A-GPS that uses A-GPS and pedestrian orientation.

The Discover category includes new features such as:

Satellite images with hybrid rendering overlays for selected cities worldwide provide real aerial views on your mobile.

Signature “one-box search” allows you to search through places, addresses, restaurants, nightlife, outdoor, accommodation.

New premium multi-media city guides including features photos, video, audio streams.

Nokia Maps 2.0 covers more than 200 countries, with over 70 of them navigable. Maps can be downloaded over the air directly to selected devices or by using the Nokia Map Loader on a PC. A new beta version of the Nokia Map Loader is available on the Nokia Betalabs website. Users can download Nokia Maps Loader for free now.