Monday, June 4, 2007

Google Mobile Maps

Most of you have probably used Google Maps or Google Earth on your home computer. They are both great and I could spend hours and hours just exploring the satellite imagery. Using Google Mobile Maps you can view maps as well as satellite images using your cell phone. I've used Google Mobile Maps before with my Nokia 6230i but it didn't show satellite images (no support for the image format). Using N95 now, I decided to give it another try.
Typing http://www.google.com/gmm on the N95 browser allowed me to download and install the application. No problems whatsoever. The application appeared in "Applications"-menu and has a nice sized "Google Maps" icon. You can move around, zoom in and out and most importantly switch between map and satellite view. The satellite view was what I had been waiting for. A fast WLAN connection would be optimal for heavy use but even with 3G connection the maps and images loaded fast enough. Below are two screenshots (map and satellite image) from the same location in London, UK.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

does GM use the on board GPS of the N95? I'm thinking that as i've bought the N95 that I own the GPS and i'd rather not have to pay for GPS software to use MY GPS on the N95.

terryq said...

Tried Google Maps on my N95 looked ok but out of date maps and sat pix by about 3 to 5 years :(

Also battery got very hot using the app for a short while.

MarkC said...

Unfortunately the current version of Google Mobile Maps doesn't have support for GPS.
I wouldn't be surprised to see GPS support in future versions of Google Maps.

Robbie said...

Is there a need to download gmaps if the Nokia already has its own maps?

MarkC said...

Nokia's own Maps application is really great and normally it's all you need. But in addition to normal map view, Google Maps gives you the possibility to view satellite images as well.