As promised by Nokia, the Finnish smartphone manufacturer has delivered by publishing its Nokia Maps Here Maps app on the iTunes store. We went hands on with the application to check it out and to find out if it could be a legitimate alternative to the missing Google Maps app on iOS.
In its announcement post, Nokia said that they would make available HERE Maps as a HTML5 based application and what we have today on the iTunes store should be a good indication of what to expect from the Android version as well. Apple has been receiving a lot of flak for removing Google Maps from the iPhone with iOS 6 and making its own half baked solution as the default.
The application is pretty much a replica of the HTML5 web app available to both the platforms for quite some time now. The map data remains very good thanks to the Navteq technology behind it. Nokia provides map data for about 200 countries and should be able to cover most locations you might visit.
With the Here Maps application, users can save sections of map data upto 10MB in size to enjoy offline mapping within that area. The procedure to save data offline is simple enough, pinch zoom the area you need and the app will tell you the level of detail that will be saved. After that, the application will download up to a maximum of 10MB of offline data for the selected area. Yes, you do get voice navigation as well but this is only for walking as we’ll mention later on in the article. In addition to the 200+ countries covered by Here Maps, the application will also provide access to community created maps in select countries.
The app ties in with the newly launched website Here.net allowing you to sync with the website. This is particularly useful and is similar to Google Maps in terms of functionality. You can set way points and places of interest on your computer and just sync it to the phone. Login options include the Nokia account or Facebook.
Bit of a bummer is that voice navigation is only provided for walking directions. The app can factor in pedestrian routes, parks, etc. In case you are driving, you can still directions but the app will not provide voice guided navigation.
All added functionality is wasted if a mapping service does not have a solid database and to that end, is the Nokia Maps HTML5 iOS app any good ? Yes, it is and that too by a wide margin especially in a country like India. While the POI database is definitely not perfect, it is much better than Apple’s map solution as you can see from the screenshot above.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GdNXm3IMtQ
Check out the video above for a quick look at Nokia’s Here Maps on iOS. Nokia’s mapping application will certainly come in handy for users of Apple smartphones while they wait for Google to launch its Google Maps application on the platform. For a free app, you can’t really go wrong with it, download Nokia’s HERE Maps by clicking the source link.
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