Comparing offline capabilities of Nokia Maps and Google Maps

Published by Pino Bonetti on February 19, 2013

Using a mapping application offline is certainly one of the most requested features, when travelling internationally without a data plan or when travelling underground in the subway. This is something that Nokia Maps has been offering for years already and the benefit of which other players have just recently recognized.

So why do we still believe we are offering the best offline solution in the market? We compared Nokia Maps on a Nokia Lumia 920 with Google Maps on a Samsung Galaxy SIII to explain.

As you can see in the video, offering offline maps is not only about giving the option to cache some data offline for later use, it’s a complete experience: it’s about points of interest (POIs) available offline to enable offline search, it’s about navigation voices (over 70 of them, btw) available on-device and offline rerouting.

Nokia-Lumia-920_Nokia-Drive

How do we do this?

We believe that a digital map can be more than just a digital version of a paper map: this is why our maps are computed on your Nokia Lumia with Windows Phone 8. In other words, part of our engine, the HERE platform, is in the palm of your hand instead of on a remote server.

As a result you can enjoy a powerful and reliable location experience. Nokia, Microsoft or 3rd party apps that use the HERE platform will feature fast maps you can easily interact with. You are not going to experience any lag when panning or zooming the map, no service interruptions when you are in the subway and of course no additional roaming costs when travelling abroad.

Are you a regular user of offline maps?

Comments

  • http://www.facebook.com/singhvikas235 Vikas Singh

    A Quivk question:
    What if there is some changes in maps for any reason?
    Are they going to be updated automatically when a new version is released just like an app or a game on my lumia device or i have to download is and install it periodically to get the new maps?

    Scenario could be anything. Example:
    In Mumbai, Metro and Monorail projects are ongoing, Current maps dont show them. What if they are completed and opened for normal public?

    I hope i had explained my question in a better way!

    • http://twitter.com/haikus Pino

      When updates to the map data are available, you can download them by accessing the settings of your Windows Phone 8. Everything has been explained here: http://conversations.nokia.com/2013/01/25/the-quest-to-make-maps-more-precise-and-to-map-the-whole-world/

      • http://www.facebook.com/singhvikas235 Vikas Singh

        I am using 7.8, any such settings in 7.8?

      • Guest

        Gone thru the post, i dont see any thing explained on how to update an offline map…is there any ?

        • http://twitter.com/TheFightSayeth My Name is The Fight

          Menu -> Settings -> Manage Maps -> (touch the map that you want to update, it will check right there if the map is up to date)

      • http://www.facebook.com/singhvikas235 Vikas Singh

        Also, want to know where to report bugs ?
        Today i tried to search for a address, Nokia map is showing me the destination around 10 km away from the actual destination, whereas Google show is perfect :0

        • http://twitter.com/malcolm_clement Malcolm Clement

          Exactly. The POI database is HORRID and Nokia will not admit it. I’ve tried everything to report this to Nokia and no responses. Shameful.

  • Guest

    This is most bothering question in my head as of now :]

  • http://www.facebook.com/singhvikas235 Vikas Singh

    This is the query which is bothering me currently and eating up my head :]

  • Auðunn Baldvinsson

    Shame, still no offline maps Nokia maps on WP 7.5 lumias. not good,l nokia not good at all.
    Also how do you update offline maps in Nokia Drive on 7.5, no such option in settings.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=708677298 Alf Lenni Erlandsen

      What? Ofcourse there is…. i have it!

      • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=708677298 Alf Lenni Erlandsen

        You need to download the map first though. :)

        • http://www.0101mj.blogspot.com/ Chris Yahya

          use over wi-fi too.

          • Auðunn Baldvinsson

            nope, Not in Nokia Maps on WP 7. Don’t get me wrong Maps is pretty good and I use it a lot but it has no offline mode.
            Offline is only in Nokia Drive not Nokia Maps on WP 7.

          • Thiagarajan

            Yes You dont have offline Nokia Maps in WP 7.5 but still you have offline drive in WP 7.5

          • http://www.0101mj.blogspot.com/ Chris Yahya

            Ohh i know. Make sure your nokia maps is up to date. Or upgrade to 7.8, maybe can offline maps.

          • http://twitter.com/haikus Pino

            We did have this discussion before @google-63f0fcf92156c309977f081b99b76f34:disqus didn’t we? I feel your frustration… Perhaps we can have a chat next time I’m in Iceland ;-)

          • Auðunn Baldvinsson

            Sure @haikus:disqus I would like to chat any time.

  • Daniel

    Not available for Lumia 800. Bad.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Arnaud-Gobert/1563841858 Arnaud Gobert

      Wrong, it is availaible. Read your user guide guy

  • Sailen

    I’m using offline maps with WP 7.5 on a Lumia 900. They work great.

  • http://twitter.com/HailMarxism fred sparrow

    Usual google employees in the comments section.

    PS. Why doesn’t my old android handset running gingerbread have google now or chrome browser??

    • MasterMuffin

      Because Google Now is a feature of Android Jellybean and Chrome needs so much resources for it to work smoothly that it isn’t available for the old devices.
      Ps. Some of these people really own a Nokia…

      • http://twitter.com/Fysi Richard Ashton

        Correct on Google Now but wrong with Chrome. The reason why Chrome does not run on older versions of Android is that it is targeting the newer API revisions (the new revisions are a lot better than the old ones, but do require a later version of Android).

        • MasterMuffin

          It’s something?

  • http://www.facebook.com/olegl Oleg Levy

    It does look very nice. However have you tried searching for anything in Japan using Nokia Maps? Seriously, there are 130 million people here – you might as well have maps for it…

    • http://twitter.com/haikus Pino

      Hi @facebook-500396948:disqus we have maps for nearly 200 countries. This is almost the whole world with few exceptions. Japan is currently one but we are committed to expand/improve our coverage. In fact just recently we have added Israel, Serbia and Bangladesh.

  • Kashif Nawaz

    Nokia is Great

  • http://www.facebook.com/talli05 Tushar Verma

    is dis offline map feature is well available in symbian belle based models?

    • http://twitter.com/haikus Pino

      Hi @facebook-100001356281509:disqus we offer offline maps on all our platforms. From legacy Symbian smartphone, to Nokia N9, to the most recent Nokia Lumia.

  • http://www.facebook.com/tarunkant95 Tarun Kant Singh

    nokia maps rocks….works smoothly in offline mode also.. :)

  • http://www.facebook.com/adil.shalmanov Adil Shalmanov

    I wonder is Nokia going to develop Windows Phone Nokia Maps and Drive application up to level of corresponding applications with Symbian.
    Particularily Drive with Windows Phone lacks functionality comparing to Symbian version.

    • http://twitter.com/haikus Pino

      Hi @facebook-100002677096339:disqus we have developed for Symbian for 6 years while we only started few months ago with specific Windows Phone 8 versions of our apps. We will fast leverage our know-how, matured on Symbian and implement also new features.

  • marine

    lol make 1 test with ndrive or tom or othe 100 apk of gps that android have!

  • http://www.facebook.com/SiavashGhahremany Siavash Ghahremany

    I live in Iran .I had a Nokia E7 and the nokia maps and drive worked perfectly . Now i have the Lumia 920 and i downloaded the map for Iran as well. But the navigation does not work and it says it’s not supported , I don’t know why ? how come it was supported in my E7 ?

    • mobileyog

      May be because Iran is in axil of evil :)
      That is typical american stuff to ban usage in Iran.

      • http://twitter.com/haikus Pino

        Hi @facebook-1081415824:disqus @mobileyog:disqus of course we love all countries in the world in the same way ;-) We are aware of this situation in Iran and we are working on enabling navigation there again.

  • http://www.facebook.com/the.demoness Katrina Brown

    Google maps are by far better..run much more smoothly and are more accurate…and Nokia have worst customer service I have ever had misfortune to encounter!I have now given my lumia 800 away and switched to Sony Xperia…far better phone!

    • http://www.facebook.com/Nkistoe Monga Nkistoe Nkiwane

      ask steve wozniak he thinks otherwise

    • Antistatic

      But still you have to read Nokia articles and comment them…

  • http://twitter.com/antanas antanas

    yes, i’m using maps! ant it’s working great! even on lumia 710 it works without any problems.

  • 123321

    Nokia maps is simply awesome. so much better than Google maps. and it’s completely free unlike other navigationapps like tomtom or navigon etc

    nice work Nokia! thx

  • hardev

    there is no accuracy in nokia map.In g map we can get accurate position with good landmark name.I use nk 5800xm.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Flavio-Hilario/100001419223757 Flavio Hilario

    Nokia Maps is still awesome even on my “old” Nokia E7. The only problem is the delay to locate a satellite. On my Google Maps it happens much faster. (Ok, it is about server stuffs or something… but nokia could improve this).

  • Omar

    Garmin. we all miss it. simply the best. the only main advantage of symbian above EVERYBODY ELSE.

    • Omar

      Garmin on a lumia mí android? gusta would totally talue over thd gps bussines… dual or quads, hd screens, just me device in your pocket / car …

  • Faramarz

    Offline mode is not very important, in all countries even African countries there is GPRS connection capability and the speed of connection isn’t important in Google Maps I have a Galaxy Note and it works by GPRS/EDGE connection very good.

  • http://www.facebook.com/alexdonc Toma Alexandru-Cezar

    And this is another reason for I was constantly disappointed with my first Android smartphone – a Galaxy S II back then and I now prefer WP8 over Android. Simply because used with OviMaps from my still working E72 or C7 I had to buy a real offline turn by turn nav. software with NAVTEQ onboard (of course Nokia) – and I mean NAVIGON – with was quite expensive (around 100EUR for the whole Europe). Only one question I have: when will “Nokia Drive +” be available for the rest of the world in Windows Phone Market? – for non Lumia users… Any inside data regarding this issue? I would kindly pay something for that just to use the beautiful UI of Nokia Drive in Windows Phone 8.

    • http://twitter.com/haikus Pino

      Hi @facebook-100000433873590:disqus where do you live? Currently, Nokia Drive is being offered by Microsoft on non-Nokia Lumia smartphones in US, UK, Canada.

  • http://twitter.com/LasseKaila Lasse Kaila

    Hmm I don’t have any offline Nokia Maps in my L900. Nokia Drive has offline capability, but it’s useless for random ad hoc usage, as one cannot even point to a specific location on the map or look for a POI without searching/knowing the exact address.

  • Guest

    After migrating from Lumia 800 to Note 2 i miss nokia maps so much. Please bring offline navigation to Android as well. Thank you

  • http://twitter.com/pjotor5 Peter Dedinsky

    After migrating from Lumia 800 to Note 2 i miss nokia maps so much.
    Please bring offline navigation to Android as well. Thank you

    • http://www.0101mj.blogspot.com/ Chris Yahya

      Talk to google :D

    • Matthew Paul

      How about you switch back to Nokia?

  • http://twitter.com/JeffRFitz Jeffrey Fitzpatrick

    Nokia Maps for the Symbian still works perfect too people!

  • Mhammed Abu-Serrieh

    just a quick Clarification guys :
    ..
    Offline Maps are not Offered in the (( Nokia Maps )) app on the WP7.5 or 7.8 devices like the L800 ,, it’s only available on (( Nokia Drive )) ..
    but then again,, i see a lot of folks saying it does ,, don’t know what’s Up with that ,,, maybe they don’t Know the difference between “Nokia maps & Nokia Drive” …..

  • lumiawp

    Nokia Offline map is awesome. this video actually showed a nice feature for Android, you can swipe from top down to get access to a list of setting including turn off Air Plan mode and get back to the app you were on immediately. Which WP will have that kind of functionality soon.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003635518214 Gustav Christensson

    Shame Nokia Maps doesn’t work offline in WP7.8, even if Nokia Drive can.

  • AMAN

    google maps are the best ,nokia Maps are outdated ,free navigation doesn’t work on S60v3 expensive mobiles ,but google maps work well

  • http://twitter.com/malcolm_clement Malcolm Clement

    Just updated the Washington State map (2/21/2013) and it STILL can’t find a Subway sandwich shop two blocks from my office. This business has been here for a LONG time. I will not use Nokia Maps or recommend it until the POI database is accurate and robust enough to find something as simple as the largest fast food chain in the world. Hurry up and catch up to the competition Nokia. Your maps are useless without a robust and accurate POI database. @haikus:disqus Can you speak to this at all? When will we get an accurate and robust POI database for North America?! Why is Bing Maps’ POI database so much better that Nokia’s?

    • http://twitter.com/haikus Pino

      Hi @twitter-138627909:disqus I think we had this discussion before and you know we are committed to continuously expand/improve our POI database. Some ad-hoc tweaks can be done: let me know where this Subway is.

      • http://twitter.com/malcolm_clement Malcolm Clement

        I keep bringing this up every chance I get because I am tired of feeling like I am unable to use Nokia/HERE maps. There have been too many times that POIs are missing or completely outdated. The particular example I’m using is the Subway located at “25 W Mercer St, Seattle, WA, 98119″ as found with Bing Maps. I’ve been using this as a gauge of any larger POI updates to the Nokia/HERE maps database. Why can’t Nokia merge their data with Bing’s data? The MS partnership should be beneficial to both Nokia and MS in this regard.

        • http://twitter.com/malcolm_clement Malcolm Clement

          @haikus:disqus Also, my favorite teriyaki place in Lynnwood, WA is misspelled. This establishment has been here a very long time (15+ years) and is very popular. How can Nokia get this wrong? I am constantly disappointed. MAKE AN INVESTMENT into what people use mapping services for… FINDING PLACES. I should hope that Nokia would understand this. I searched with Bing Maps on my Lumia 920 and it found the teriyaki place INSTANTLY, WITH the correct spelling. What a novelty. It is “Ichi Teriyaki (with an “i”, not a “L” for the first letter” @ 14920 Highway 99 Ste 102, Lynnwood, WA, 98087 – as found with Bing Maps, NOT Nokia/HERE Maps)

  • http://twitter.com/wajon68 Jon

    Been using Offline Maps with Nokia’s since N95, just brilliant! You do get some odd route choices sometimes, but generally its reliable and when I don’t know where I’m going it easily finds me a route. Even better that it doesn’t use my data up!
    Does Drive on Lumia 920 re-route due to live traffic?

  • http://twitter.com/haikus Pino

    Hi everyone, in particular @twitter-374079389:disqus @facebook-100003635518214:disqus and @disqus_vUzgOUHn52:disqus. Unfortunately, because of a limitation of Windows Phone 7, we could not implement offline maps in both Nokia Maps and Nokia Drive. We prioritized the latter and we worked together with Microsoft to deliver in the new OS this experience completely out of the box.

  • http://twitter.com/kin_ng5 Kin

    Please combine drive and map into ONE app. Currently on Drive I can’t mark a location and Drive there. Have to know the exact address. e.g. Can’t drive to the famous Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco even though I can see it on the map.
    Also we really need offline satellite images. I know the size may be large but at least give us an option to download a small area. This is very useful in a park or even a lake where a picture can be life saving.

    • http://twitter.com/haikus Pino

      Hi @twitter-420629735:disqus thanks for your feedback. We are not going to combine HERE Maps and HERE Drive: each location experience has been built to address specific use cases. But we know that sometimes you just need them to work together. Please have a look at http://conversations.nokia.com/2013/03/19/how-here-experiences-work-together/
      In your case, just open HERE Maps, plan your route then start the navigation. Have fun in San Francisco!