Ovi Maps tips & tricks & discussion thread
 

Hi All,
Created this thread so we can share any tips and tricks with the standard ovi maps that comes with the N900.

As basic as it is I use Ovi Maps as a sat nav because I dont want to get a stand alone sat nav as I dont want the seperate hardware to carry around or worry about leaving in my car & I dont want to pay for sygic as i've seen people moaning it doesn't work correctly all of the time!

I have found I can use Ovi Maps quite well to get me from a to b using the routing and recently found that when a route has been calculated and marked out by clicking the compass, then clicking the centre of the compass gives me a 3d perspective view which increased the usability of it greatly (cant believe I didnt know this before)
Anyway, if you didnt know about it theres 1 tip for ya!

My 2nd tip for you is regarding the annoying fact you cant set your home address as a saved position so when you have been somewhere and want to go home you have to re-enter your postcode!
What I did was when in the map, i clicked the 'places' icon and searched for a pub which is just round the corner from my house, i then clicked the little 'i' icon which brings up the pubs details such as phone number and address, then you click the pubs name area which brings up a list of options, then click route to and ovi maps should then save that pub in the 'places' function so in the future when you want to get a route direct to home just
click 'places'
click 'i' next to the pubs name
click 'the pubs name' to get the option list
click 'route to'
and a route will calculated from your current gps position to home/the local pub.
This can be done with any kind of business that is local to your home and is found by the search function!

What annoys me about ovi maps
1) when my N900 is in its car holder with the hardware keyboard closed and i want to search a postcode to be taken to the virtual keyboard will not work .... i have to take my n900 out of the holder and open the keyboard .... try it yourself and if you find a way round it let me know!
click 'routing'
click 'set a destination'
click 'set from search'
in the search box there is light grey text saying 'e.g an address, business or place name'now try and bring up the virtual keyboard .... it wont work will it??
you have to use the hardware keyboard
OK I'VE JUST FOUND A SOLUTION TO THIS WHILE TESTING AND WRITING THIS POST
tap the area just where the green meets the white box (on the left of the word e.g) three times , it works sometimes but not other times??? why it doesnt open the virtual keyboard with one press is beyond me???
can anyone out there make it open with one press?

Ok another annoyance for me is that I live near a toll road, so most of the time when i am going somewhere or going home the route calculated will involve me going on the toll road which I dont want as it costs £4.50 a time ... every time i calculate a route i have to go into 'route settings' and unhighlight 'toll roads'
Does anyone know how I can save 'route settings' to have 'toll roads' unselected 100% of the time?

WOW ... what a big post this is .... i got a bot carried away didnt I lol.

Anyway I hope the info in here helps some people and if you have any tips please post them here!

cheers

Re: N900 & Ovi Maps tips & tricks & discussion thread
 

For me, Ovi Maps is completely useless because you can not enter an address because you can not enter numbers on the search screen. At least if you can, it is not obvious. All you can do is find street names, which isn't helpful if the street is a mile long.

Who the hell makes a map application that doesn't have basic functionality in it?

Re: N900 & Ovi Maps tips & tricks & discussion thread
 

you can enter numbers by holding down the 'blue arrow' key while pressing the number keys ... is this what you mean?

Re: N900 & Ovi Maps tips & tricks & discussion thread
 

Same here, can't use them at all.
Just for testing i found the exact spelling of a road on the map (i live in Greece and the road names are written in latin characters), then tried to seach for it to make a route to and guess what, the seach said that the road didn't exist....

Re: N900 & Ovi Maps tips & tricks & discussion thread
 

thanks, had forgotten about the 3D perspective, makes a big difference for me

Re: N900 & Ovi Maps tips & tricks & discussion thread
 

Nokia :D

And add the outdated maps too...
... and missing voice guidance....
.... lack of bookmark places....
... impossible to load offline maps using the Ovi Maps Loader...

IMHO Mapper does its job better, though it is still a bit buggy and slow...

Re: N900 & Ovi Maps tips & tricks & discussion thread
 

And add the outdated maps too... I DONT KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS, MY MAPS AREN'T OUTDATED
... and missing voice guidance.... I KNOW, GUTTED BUT CAN SURIVE WITHOUT IT, WOULD ALSO MENTION LACK OF REROUTING ENGINE WHEN YOU TAKE A WRONG TURN
.... lack of bookmark places.... THATS WHY I USE PUBS AS BOOKMARKS
... impossible to load offline maps using the Ovi Maps Loader - I JUST COPY/PASTED UK MAPS INTO THE MAPS FOLDER AND IT WORKS FINE

Re: N900 & Ovi Maps tips & tricks & discussion thread
 

Thanks above all for telling me how to get into 3d view. Since the last upgrade of Ovi Maps I had been unable to launch it although I was searching for it :o. I checked that also in the newest User Guide does not give a clue.

What I find very confusing at times is the constant change of orientation when GPS tracking is on. I discovered that I can stop that by using the compass, choose the orientation myself, and then click outside of the compass. Unfortunately, the map then also stays where it was, so the red dot is not followed any longer, but that is often the lesser evil. Does anyone know how to do better?

Good luck with this thread - may it not decay in yet another endless and thus useless series of complaints about Ovi Maps :rolleyes:

Re: N900 & Ovi Maps tips & tricks & discussion thread
 

yes, this happens quite often to me too when i stop at traffic lights, it happens as its the gps information thats used to determine which direction you are travelling in ... i dont know how to stop it but its not really a problem for me as it corrects itself when i get moving again.
Im guessing its much worse when you are walking somewhere though

Re: N900 & Ovi Maps tips & tricks & discussion thread
 

No, it doesn't work. I can only type in letters no matter how many times I press the 'blue arrow' key.

Re: N900 & Ovi Maps tips & tricks & discussion thread
 

You have to press the blue arrow and the number AT THE SAME TIME (not one after the other)...
This works for me at least.

Re: N900 & Ovi Maps tips & tricks & discussion thread
 

Yeah thats what i do......damn annoying though trying to get number 1!

Re: N900 & Ovi Maps tips & tricks & discussion thread
 

Ovi Maps works perfect for me.
I dont want or need voice in GPS is anoying for me someone telling me every turn you have to take in your car, who is SO DUMB to know where you have to turn ? :D

And i CAN write numbers too in the route, check your fingers. ;)

Re: N900 & Ovi Maps tips & tricks & discussion thread
 

Hey there, and thanks for this nice thread...

For basic functionality OVI Maps works fine here. Like "MatMat" i dont need voice for GPS navigation and thanks to fraaaaanka i now have a workaround for the bookmarks.

The OVI Maploader is not needed for N900, just download the maps and put them in your maps folder. Did this for three european countrys now.

One thing that bothers me is the search function only available if you are online. I don't have mobile internet and can't search for places when on the road. There is so much room on this device, is it possible to download the search database? that would be awsome!!!

Re: N900 & Ovi Maps tips & tricks & discussion thread
 

hello

i have a huge issue with my ovi maps
everything works perfect but when it tells me to get on a freeway it does not say which way ie orientation..

for example it says get on the I-10 FWY /San Bernardino Fwy
but there is a East and West 10 fwy.. n i dont know which to take untill i go back into the map..n look at the route n see where north is..

this is very annoying... any help?

Re: N900 & Ovi Maps tips & tricks & discussion thread
 

Same for me, this is the only thing i want to add to OVI maps.

Re: N900 & Ovi Maps tips & tricks & discussion thread
 

is it possible to change the POI database?

Re: N900 & Ovi Maps tips & tricks & discussion thread
 

hi

How do you save places or delete places. Is it possible to sync your ovi account like you can on the n97/n95.

For me map application has been the biggest disappointment since changing from the n9x series. but love the rest.

g2d
.

Re: N900 & Ovi Maps tips & tricks & discussion thread
 

Once a place is saved how do you remove it from your saved places?

Thanks in advance.

Re: N900 & Ovi Maps tips & tricks & discussion thread
 

just got a email from nokia telling me ovi maps is now even better but guess what no new update for n900 come on nokia start to show us you still support the n900

Re: N900 & Ovi Maps tips & tricks & discussion thread
 

I will be glad if there's tip to get GPS lock quickly without data connection :D coz last time I wanted to use Maps, it never got locked and didn't know where I was standing at all in the map and I was just walking to river side just around half an hour away from where I live. So, I manually dragged the map to where I was and figured out which way to go :(

Re: N900 & Ovi Maps tips & tricks & discussion thread
 

wish i had a working google map on my n900 like i had on my e71.

Re: N900 & Ovi Maps tips & tricks & discussion thread
 

10x guys you are all good

Re: N900 & Ovi Maps tips & tricks & discussion thread
 

Have you tried the Mapper? It supports Google Maps, among others.

Re: N900 & Ovi Maps tips & tricks & discussion thread
 

I somehow have managed to delete my offline uk maps, is there a quick fix to getting them back?

TIA

Re: N900 & Ovi Maps tips & tricks & discussion thread
 

You can enter numbers. You need to hold down the blue function key and select your number at the same time. Works fine on my N900.

Re: N900 & Ovi Maps tips & tricks & discussion thread
 

Another annoyance of OVI Maps:

Everytime I open the application, I have to go to settings and change "Units of Measurement" to METRIC Units.

When OVI Maps is closed and re-opened, the setting would be back to Imperial Units.

Guess we gotta change the whole country to Imperial Units then....

Kind regards.

Re: N900 & Ovi Maps tips & tricks & discussion thread
 

Seems I am missing something here:

Besides visiting the region you are interested in, within OVI Maps, that is...and being online, of course; action that will download the maps and store them (at least the "visited" parts) in the device:
What is the other way (without using the Map Loader) to actually download map files and directly store those maps files in the maps folder of the N900 ? Getting them from a web page?

Thanks for your time and comments.

Re: N900 & Ovi Maps tips & tricks & discussion thread
 

ovi maps would be perfect if i could just change the POI database

Re: N900 & Ovi Maps tips & tricks & discussion thread
 

To me, it is as if Ovi Maps was written by aliens, who have no idea of the human conventions for software - menus, etc.
I waste ages looking for a simple tool, like "save this point".
Is there a manual anywhere for the maemo version of Ovi maps?
Even a simple clear list of what it can and can not do would save much frustration.
Just trying to keep north up in 2D view was sending me insane at one point.

Re: N900 & Ovi Maps tips & tricks & discussion thread
 

Yes, this is extremely annoying.

Re: Ovi Maps tips & tricks & discussion thread
 

"Get Directions" goes nowhere !
After select destination and "View route" I got "Route could not be created" .

OK, maybe maps or indexes corrupted? Nah! downloaded maps again and got the same results!

??????????????

Re: Ovi Maps tips & tricks & discussion thread
 

Appreciate other people's wants & pref's but Ovi maps works fine for me. I never use voice guidance and the fact you cannot search beyond street names aint a big deal (after all it is free ffs)

Just navigate your way to the street then....errrrr.......use one's eyes to find the number your looking for. Good eh :p

Re: Ovi Maps tips & tricks & discussion thread
 

Google maps is free on android and IT has voice navigation and better search capabilities. My point: The "it's free" argument is shite.

Re: Ovi Maps tips & tricks & discussion thread
 

all,
how do you display street names in language other english? my maps are shown in english only. are the maps language specific?

cheers

Re: Ovi Maps tips & tricks & discussion thread
 

can anyone develop voice navigation for ovi maps??and for me modrana best

Re: Ovi Maps tips & tricks & discussion thread
 

Yes, I think you were looking for this thread. But as far as I can tell not really ready to be used yet.

Re: Ovi Maps tips & tricks & discussion thread
 

i checkd that thread before,but thats still under development actually hoped nokia can give us latest edition of ovi maps.......what a shame non of my friends can belive that this phone using old version of ovi maps