Finally!

I’ve been covering developments in getting Amman and Jordan mapped electronically for a few years now, at one point even suggesting that we as users just do it ourselves!

This whole GPS maps and navigation business in Jordan was being held up for over a year by what seems to be regulations hurdles, combined with some entrenched business interests. So although I am happy that Amman and Jordan finally have a fully functioning digital map, complete with important points of interest (restaurants, hospitals, hotels, etc), I am still quite annoyed by the fact that the Kingdom had to wait for so long to finally getting this working, in the hands of consumers.

But Nokia have done it. Nokia ads promoting their mapping product are all over Amman and its malls. The maps will be available this week in stores, and within 10 days for online download, as been told by Nokia Mohammad Al Sheikh, the guy responsible for this business in the region. While the maps will be free (which is fantastic for finding stuff and getting around) voice assisted navigation (see video above, in Arabic) will be a paid service (US$ 10 for one month and US$ 100 for a whole year of voice assisted navigation for the WHOLE OF THE MIDDLE EAST).

So if you’re going to Riyadh or Doha next time, for 10 bucks you can have an assistant in your pocket giving you directions to drive around town.

I am now in the process of testing the service in Amman. I was given a one year navigation voucher by Nokia and a new N97 mini with the maps preloaded for testing.

So far its been working great. I even had instances where the navigation system made me aware of some tiny streets I didn’t even know existed.

Of course, long-time Amman residents will probably know their usual roads and shortcuts better than any navigation system, but even they could benefit from GPS mapping for their own city. Amman has grown tremendously. Try finding your way around Sahab if you are a resident of Jabal Al Hussein who rarely ventures outside central Amman!

Tourism will also benefit form the availability of a proper map for Amman and Jordan. The map already has 13,500 points of interest on it. I tested this in Abu Dhabi, and found that even tiny restaurants are on the map, complete with their phone numbers!

Nokia will also invite users to add their own points of interest to the map, using their OVI service. So user generated mapping will also play a role in this offering. Navteq, the Nokia owned mapping giant which is behind all of this mapping and technology will regularly update the map every 6 months. This is important for the fast evolving cities of Arabia.

I will continue testing the service and might post more detailed experiences with Nokia’s Amman and Jordan maps.

In the meantime I am still watching out for Jordan’s amazing home grown mapping service, insideJO, which did a great job on their own, a testimony to Jordanian tech innovation at its best. I think they too are launching soon and I hope we hear good news about that offering to.

[Thanks to the Ikbis team, especially Mohammad Jardat, for shooting the cool video above of our first test drive! With two cameras! :-) ]


Posted

in

, , ,

by

Tags:

Comments

15 responses to “Navigating Amman: Hands on with Nokia’s Jordan GPS maps!”

  1. hussein Avatar
    hussein

    nice video :)

    Q: It will be only available for Nokia devices?

  2. Yanal Avatar
    Yanal

    I’m so happy to know that we finally got quality GPS navigation in Jordan :D . Now we can all think of Amman as a sophisticated city with organized satellite navigation.

    Although I already asked about it here 10 days ago http://discussions.europe.nokia.com/discussions/board/message?board.id=navigation&message.id=14729 so I know this was coming, it’s still awesome to see it in action.

    I’ve been testing GarminXT for Nokia phones myself in the past week, it’s been great really with all of Amman in their map so it is definitely a good alternative if anyone doesn’t like Nokia’s software.

    To give you a glimpse of what’s it like to have navigation in your hands, my bro called me to pick him up from his friend’s house. I didn’t know where that was so guess what I did? I called and told him to give me his current GPS coordinates from his phone (no kidding). I entered those in GarminXT on my N79 and clicked on “Go”.

    I was on my way with the GPS software guiding me through every step :) . In 10 minutes, I was there without the hustle of calling the guy every minute so he could try to direct me to that house. He could have also given me the street name and the house number. Guess what? It works.

    This is what GPS is all about. In Jordan, we’ve been having a dilemma about roads since forever! What if all of us could go to a friend’s or a relative’s house by just knowing the street name and the house number? What if the stupid delivery restaurants could just write these down and be right at your door step? What if we could just put the name of the “point of interest” we wish to go to, and forget about all the calls needed to where it is.

    This is what Nokia did so I hope you all support it by paying for their software rather then drifting to pirated versions.

    I have to say congratulations to you Humeid and all Jordanians as well, we finally got a navigation system in our hands after that long time of waiting.. Enjoy it people! ;)

  3. Dave Avatar
    Dave

    I’ve got a Garmin GPS with maps that cover all of the gulf and most of Saudi, but nothing in the Levant. I’m not sure what is the hold up, but I’d love to see some development on some mainstream devices (Garmin, Tom Tom, Magellan, et al.).

  4. Yanal Avatar
    Yanal

    Hussein, yes. It will only be available on some Nokia phones. Maybe if Google maps improves their software, it could be usable in Amman for Symbian devices (like some Nokia phones and other brands that use symbian).

    Just check which platform your device belongs to, and always try to get a Symbian one if you’re going for a mobile phone.

  5. Mesh Avatar
    Mesh

    looks like they all got some kind of unified database, or they got the raw data from the government…

    while i bigged the national geographic center in Amman to give me the data for my senior project back in 2007, now and after the polished street names signs on every corner, even google maps/earth fixed ’ proper to say added’ Amman’s maps.

    check it out:

    http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=amman&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=38.41771,93.076172&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Amman,+Jordan&z=15

  6. Mesh Avatar
    Mesh

    Hey Guys,

    just Firmwared my Device, Instlaled Ovi Maps 3.0 and download Jordnan Maps..

    Gues what ??

    It’s Still not there ! only main streets/highways.

  7. Mesh Avatar
    Mesh

    would please someone confirm if the Maps of Amman are there in details ?

  8. Yanal Avatar
    Yanal

    @Mesh

    No they’re not in detail yet. When I asked the Ovi maps representatives at the city mall about this (They probably know nothing), I’ve been told that the new Amman map is expected to arrive at the map loader between the 20th and 25th of this month. I also asked Nokia staff two weeks ago about this, they said it will come in a few weeks which I guess is (2-3 weeks) time.

    It’s not there yet but I know it’s coming really soon. Hopefully in a week.
    Only Humeid got the new beta maps :@. Would be really nice if he could share them with us though! Just compress the “cities” folder in your memory card to a “.zip” or a “.rar” file then send it to our emails please ;) .

  9. Yanal Avatar
    Yanal

    Hey, you could get the maps from the city mall at the moment. They’re not available at the map loader yet so go get them there. Installation of maps is beside the escalator on the first floor from 4 pm until 9:30.

    Look for guys or preferably girls wearing Ovi T-shirts ;) .

  10. issa Avatar
    issa

    Dear Yanal: please. upload the new jordan map after zipping> if you dont mind>>
    Thanks

  11. fatima Avatar
    fatima

    hey…..salam
    i have N78 Nokia cell phone but till now i dont know how to deal with the GPS App …. does it need a net connection ?

  12. Yanal Avatar
    Yanal

    Sure, Issa, I’ll upload them today and post the link here after I come back from my uni (studying medicine at JU :D ).

    And fatima, no it doesn’t need an internet connection. Make sure you got the latest version though by going to http://europe.nokia.com/explore-services/ovi-maps/downloads-and-services .Choose N78 and download the map updater to your computer then connect your device to let it update. But you need the new maps which are available at the city mall now if you live in Jordan, or you could wait later today when I upload them. Navigation will cost you about 3-4 JDs a month.

  13. Yazan Malakha Avatar
    Yazan Malakha

    Hi Ahmad,

    I was wondering if you’re able to find “Blue Fig” or “Books@Cafe” in the offline mode, I’m able to find these when online but never when I’m offline, do you have any idea what the actual map size is? The one on Ovi is 5 megs and is no different when searching for stuff than the one provided in City Mall. I appreciate your response.

    Cheers,
    Yazan

  14. Mesh Avatar
    Mesh

    The Nokia Maps for Amman,are now available, i’ve tested them today..

    1.Its Recommended to perform a Nokia Firmware Update (aka software update) using Nokia Software Updater, (do backup if necessary)

    2.After that there is Nokia Maps updater which updates the nokia Maps Application to Ovi Maps,

    3. Download Nokia Map Loader, Connect your phone in PC Suit Mode, ( don’t forget to run the Ovi Maps at least one to create the cities folder in the memory card ).

    4. Select Asia -> Jordan -> Download

    Enjoy !

    am going to jordan next week, i’ll give it a shot of how accurate and how updated is the data

    Thank you Nokia, Thank you 360east

  15. OpenSource! Avatar
    OpenSource!

    Well! Long live the “internet freedom of speech”, check out this links:

    http://symbianism.blogspot.com/2009/07/ovi-maps-30-former-nokia-maps-finished.html

    Once you have copied the maps, you can within “ovi” download any voice
    you want for navigation, and it will work!

    I myself have just copied the folder tree from a N900 to 5800XM (KSA edition)
    and it has worked fine.