Thursday, August 13, 2009

Japan trip planning part 2

As an independent traveler, it is vital to know how to get around if your idea holiday does not involve getting lost. And so i'll be relying on Nokia E71's GPS & a mapping software for navigation again.

Nokia Map is a free software which allows offline viewing of maps and it has good support of maps in Singapore, Europe, USA ..etc. Ive used it with great success in Berlin as evident here & here. It may not provide the fine granularity as GoogleMap or other payware does, but hey, its free and GoogleMap does not allow offline viewing.

However, I was little disappointed when Nokia Map presented me with a plain piece of land as the map of Japan :(

Map of Kyoto on Nokia Map (Near Kyoto station area)

Why the lack of support for Japan? could it be because Nokia is finding it hard to penetrate into Japan's market? just some harmless speculation .. hmmm.


Anyway, ive found an alternate nagivation software (MGMaps) and ive some screenshots to share.

Map of Kyoto on MGMaps (Near Kyoto station area)

Map of Tokyo on MGMaps (Near Ueno station area)

MGMaps allows the user to choose the mapsource from various providers, and theres a way to 'cache' the map for offline viewing.

So there we have it, a nagivation software for offline viewing of maps of Japan on Nokia E71!

4 comments:

Adrianli said...

Get a Garmin Nuvi!!!

CKS said...

last i check.. Garmin doesnt provide map of Japan neither.. though there're some 3rd party provider of Japan map that would work in Garmin.. thats just gonna be as good as using a 3rd party mapping software on Nokia phone.

And MGMaps is free .. so why not? :)

Adrianli said...

Hi,

You check the correct website or not. Garmin is worldwide leh. Here is their Japan site : http://www.garmin.com/garmin/cms/site/jp

I am a subscriber of Rotweiler Maps for Garmin. Look here for their Maps which also has Japan:
http://rotweilermaps.com/maps.cfm

CKS said...

Adrainli, i cant read Japanese language!

Rotweiler is considered 3rd party provider, not originally from Garmin, like I mentioned in previous comment, its pointless to pay for something that doesnt come with what i need off the box. MGMaps is free! :)