Thursday, March 08, 2007

GPS On Nokia in Pakistan


On my post about GPS at Pakistan , I posted a lot of pics ( at random , still figuring out how to arrange them ) but I deleted all the text so here it is
First the software I have
Nokia Maps
Google Maps
Amaze
Way FInder
MgMaps
GPS Maps
TOM TOM
WayFinder Earth Beta
Nokia E70's internal NAvigator , Landmarks and Position .


Nokia Maps is a good stand along application but without any local maps of Pakistan all it covers is highways and airports located in the country however it does it in detail and even covers the most obscure of airports such as at Omara etc . In Karachi , I am using it as a location marker , whenever I go to a place , I mark that place as a landmark on the map , its useful when calculating distance of the place from my house or when driving how far is it , For Navigation it demands seperate purchase which is not feasible if I want to use it in KArachi

Google maps is a Dud all I can use it is to my house from the top , no navigation or GPS connectivity

Amaze is also a dud without any Pakistan maps

MgMaps is useful if all the options are selected like Wikimaps , Yahoo Maps , Google Maps and FON , It has GPS connectivity and can show my Latittude and Longitude but cannot zoom down to street level

TomTOm is hacked and is not working

Way Finder and Way Finder Beta both have highway maps and require additional subscription for GPs connectivity

Nokia's internal Navigator , Landmarks and position is what I found to be most useful , Navigator can tell the direction in which I a heading with a digital compass and its Trip Distance shows how much I have travelled , my fastest and average speed , Trip Timer and odometer , The odometer matches my car's odometer with a 100m difference , its useful when I go for walk , it tells me how much I have walked and how fast I have walked

In a nut shell having a GPs enabled phone / bluetooth GPs is of not much use in Pakistan unless local maps are made available , GPs MAps offers the functanility based on jpg images which I have yet to try , till than I will mark my position on Nokia maps and wait for someone to comeup with local maps in future .

Keeping my hopes up and my blog open

FArhan

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Where is your E61?

鱼尾诗 said...

Hi, Farhan. I'm impressed by your tech-savviness. I'll be leading a consumer research project on telecoms in Karachi next month and am in the midst of compiling whatever information I can on lifestyle, culture, products ,trends etc in Karachi. I'd like to get in touch with you so hopefully you may provide insights for me about the real life of a Karachiite.

How may I contact you please? Thanks, hope to hear from you soon.

Farhan said...

Jrsdhr , I sold my E61 and got a E70 , not much difference between both except size and camera

Anonymous said...

What about Trackker's Nav Track? They are offering the GPS system for cars and also for bluetooth enabled devices and i am sure they must have local detailed maps.

Farhan said...

Zag , NavTrack costs Rs. 98000 however it's capable of showing only Karachi map + a DVD player , Rear Camera etc etc not to mention also a GPS thrown in . They do have detailed maps of KArachi so does google earth the trick is to coordinate them on the Nokia . They are only offering maps for WM5 devices . I am running a couple of experiments and will post if I succeeded in them

ME, WE, YOU, US, I said...

good work farhan... very informative. Thumbs up!

Unknown said...

farhan.. thumbx up t0 yew dude!
was g0ogling f0r the d0wnl0ad 0f pakistan map for 'nokia maps', and f0und this bl0g...
alth0ugh it didnt actually pr0vide me wat i wanted, but it gave me a b0ost 0f kn0wledge.. =D
n made me realize tht there still r sum pakistanis remainin wh0 w0rk s0o brilliantly.. =D
yeaah buddy!! keeep it upp* _ keep it high!! =D

Anonymous said...

I am reading this article second time today, you have to be more careful with content leakers. If I will fount it again I will send you a link

Anonymous said...

Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now. Keep it up!
And according to this article, I totally agree with your opinion, but only this time! :)

Anonymous said...

I didn't understand the concluding part of your article, could you please explain it more?

Alkhilafat said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Alkhilafat said...

Hey Have you Used GarminXT? that Solves all the Problem. Street Level Detailed Map of all Pakistan. Provides Routing Navigation Solution. I am Using it on my N78 with Built in GPS receiver. I don't think there is Any need to Purchase an Expensive GPS device if you have a Smartphone with internal GPS receiver and GarminXT Installed in it with Local Maps. Just Check it out!!!

 
x