Nokia Maps is a giant step backwards

muhan

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1) Touch your search button on the bottom right of your phone
2) Search for any location, business, etc using they keyboard or your voice.
2b) If you need to find a specific address, just open the nokia drive app and use 'set destination'.
2c) If you want to use a contact address, open the contact, hold on the address and choose 'copy'. Open Nokia Drive, use "set destination" and paste the address into the search box.

3) Once you have selected your destination, the 'about' page will open. Touch the 'Drive' option on that screen.
4) Nokia Drive automatically opens up, finds your location and maps your route, immediately starting the navigation process via voice directions.

It's so extremely easy to use and YES it is integrated into your search button on the bottom right of your phone.

Nokia Drive even tells you when you are exceeding the speed limit for the road you are on (you can adjust this setting in nokia drive settings).

We're talking about Nokia maps, not Nokia Drive. I'd like to use the maps for things other than turn by turn GPS.
You're blindly defending Nokia for no good reason. Look at the reply in this thread from the Nokia Here team member. He acknowledges the lack of integration.
 

muhan

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Hi everyone, this is Pino from the HERE team and I would like to address some of the questions about Nokia Maps in this thread.

We are aware that People Hub, Bing, Email and other apps on Windows Phone 8 do not open Nokia Maps and we are working together with Microsoft to provide a better user experience.
Right now the workaround is to open Windows Phone Maps (the engine of which is still provided by us) and launch Nokia Drive from there. Unfortunately Windows Phone Maps does not support walk navigation, which is why you don't find the option to open Nokia Maps from there.
You are luckier when you are searching for places with Bing because you can pan to the apps tab and select Nokia Maps (or even Nokia Transport) from there.

We are in the meantime also working in polishing or further improve some feature of Nokia Maps like traffic information, search and places listing.

You can also watch here a video that summarizes all the features of Nokia Maps with some good reasons why you should use it:
[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxiyYbrI8j8[/YT]

Thanks for taking the time to read this post and acknowledge some of the problems with Nokia Maps. Is there any way to put Windows Phone Maps back in the apps list? Why purposely handicap an app that at least some of your users would rather use?
 

luckyhillkop

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Hi everyone, this is Pino from the HERE team and I would like to address some of the questions about Nokia Maps in this thread.

We are aware that People Hub, Bing, Email and other apps on Windows Phone 8 do not open Nokia Maps and we are working together with Microsoft to provide a better user experience.
Right now the workaround is to open Windows Phone Maps (the engine of which is still provided by us) and launch Nokia Drive from there. Unfortunately Windows Phone Maps does not support walk navigation, which is why you don't find the option to open Nokia Maps from there.
You are luckier when you are searching for places with Bing because you can pan to the apps tab and select Nokia Maps (or even Nokia Transport) from there.

We are in the meantime also working in polishing or further improve some feature of Nokia Maps like traffic information, search and places listing.

You can also watch here a video that summarizes all the features of Nokia Maps with some good reasons why you should use it:
[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxiyYbrI8j8[/YT]
Hi, thanks for taking the time to explain.

I'm a Nokia maps/drive user from a different platform which is Symbian. I don't know how they work in WP8 but in Symbian version, the search function is terrible. Most of the times it will fail to locate the place I'm searching; I ended up having to painstakingly search manually by referring to Google map and then look that place up in Nokia map. I don't understand why the search function fail to locate something that is already in the map. Hopefully in WP8 the search function is much better. If it's hit and miss like the Symbian version, hope Nokia could improve this soon.

Other than that, I think Nokia maps/drive are great.
 

PhilR8

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Thanks for taking the time to read this post and acknowledge some of the problems with Nokia Maps. Is there any way to put Windows Phone Maps back in the apps list? Why purposely handicap an app that at least some of your users would rather use?

On my 920, I just use Bing Search for everything. So if I search for "pizza" with the goal of finding local pizza places, I'll just open Bing, type "Pizza", and then go to the Local results which will be displayed using Bing Maps and not Nokia Maps.
 

muhan

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Re: Nokia Maps issues

I realized today that the usual Bing maps app was gone and replaced with Nokia maps, and found this thread.

After trying out Nokia Maps for awhile, I definitely prefer Bing maps over it. Most of my issues have to do with the UI. Here are a few points that I think could be improved:

1. The swipe up UI for search results and list of directions is not intuitive and doesn't fit in with the rest of the WP style.

2. The directions UI doesn't allow you to see both the map and the directions list at the same time. Also tapping on specific directions doesn't show you where that place is on the map.

3. Having to swipe up the list of directions/search results completely to see the app bar is cumbersome. Please have the app bar always be visible to allow easy access to functions. For example, in order to search for another location while viewing directions, I have to swipe the directions panel all the way to the top, expand the app bar, and then tap search. Ideally, I should be able to just tap a search icon in the visible app bar.

4. Nokia and Bing maps may be powered by Nokia's data, but for some reason the results are not the same. I did the exact same search for a yogurt place near to where I live in Virginia. Nokia maps moved me over to a street called Yogurt Ln. in Maryland, while Bing maps found the place I was looking for.

Pino, I hope you can incorporate some of this feedback, and also at least give us the choice to have Bing Maps available while Nokia Maps is smoothing out some of the rough spots.

Thanks!

Very good post. Although I'm more concerned with usability issues of Nokia Maps, I agree with every point you made regarding the badly designed UI. Nokia got out of the software business for a reason, they're not good at it. It's strange that they keep trying to do it.
 

DungMasterFang

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Re: Nokia Maps issues

Very good post. Although I'm more concerned with usability issues of Nokia Maps, I agree with every point you made regarding the badly designed UI. Nokia got out of the software business for a reason, they're not good at it. It's strange that they keep trying to do it.

Well there's an absurd statement...
 

LCARS

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I'd just like to also throw in my opinion, in the hope that it will reach someone at Nokia who will use this feedback to improve Nokia Maps. For reference, I have AT&T and live on the east coast of the US.

On my Lumia 900, I had downloaded Nokia Maps to use it since it was supposedly better. However, I quickly uninstalled it because I found it to be pretty bad compared to the default Maps app. The odd thing is that I love all of their other apps. Nokia Drive is excellent, City Lens is amazing, Trailers is very useful, etc. In fact, Nokia Maps is the only Nokia app that I don't love.

After I got my 920, I was very disappointed when I found out that the default Maps entry in the app list had been removed. I uninstalled the Nokia Maps app on my 920 and have Local Scout pinned to my start screen. Thank God I can use that workaround to get to the default maps app. To be fair, I did spend some time using Nokia Maps on my 920, just in case they improved it. Unfortunately, it is just as bad. If they completely replace the built in maps in the next Lumia, and they haven't improved Nokia Maps dramatically, I'm afraid it will be a deal breaker for me. This goes double for Local Scout. To be clear, this post is not a rant. I have had two 900s and a 920 and these devices are fantastic. All of Nokia's apps, besides Maps, are fantastic.

My issues with Nokia Maps can be divided into two categories: the data and the user experience. Unfortunately, there are a lot of issues to cover and I apologize for such a long post. Many of these issues relate to lack of polish that cause the app to feel glitchy and stiff. The app does not feel "fast and fluid", causing the user to loose confidence. It also uses an unconventional layout in a few places, causing it to feel foreign to the Windows Phone experience.

Data
  • I realize that Nokia's mapping technology powers both apps, but somehow, the Bing maps app provides better results. I don't understand how that can be the case, but I have compared them head to head and the Bing maps app finds stuff that the Nokia one doesn't. Maybe they are using the same raw map data but the searching algorithm is different? In any case, I don't feel confident using the Nokia maps app. I always fear that I am missing something. Zoom in on the same place using both apps and try a simple search, such as "Haircut" or "Pizza". The results are different, and nearly always better with the default maps app. During this test, I am taking great pains to make sure that they are both zoomed in exactly the same on both.
  • The info cards for various locations are lacking. I can open up the info card for the same location in both apps, and the default maps app will usually show more information. This is probably because Bing is pulling in information from more sources. The Nokia Maps info cards always looks barren compared to the default maps.

User Experience
  • My issues with the user experience start right from the beginning. When you open the default maps app, it opens instantly with no delay. When you open the Nokia Maps app, it shows a splash screen and you have to wait several seconds for it to load. As a developer, I understand the technical reasons why this is. However, as a user, I see mapping as a core function of my phone. It shouldn't feel like an app that is tacked on.
  • The way that the two apps show traffic is different. The default maps app shows traffic on all major roads when you are zoomed out. On the Nokia Maps app, it only shows you part of the traffic when zoomed out. You have to zoom in on a specific area before the traffic shows up in that area. However, once you do that and zoom back out, it will show traffic for that area while zoomed out. This is very odd, and I'm unsure if it is a bug or by design. Either way, it's confusing and I much prefer the way the default maps app shows traffic. It just handles things smoother. It also has the effect of causing me to second guess whether or not the traffic information is accurate. I find myself zooming in all over the place to make sure it has updated everything. This is another example of me not feeling confident.
  • Favorite/Recent places. On the default maps app, when you open the favorite/recent places, it behaves like every other app. The map flips away, and the favorite/recent places flip in full screen. Having this displayed full screen makes sense because there is limited space on a phone. In the Nokia Maps app, the favorites/recent screen does this jerky animation and slides up from the bottom. The map is still visible at the top of the screen, giving an odd cramped effect. This feels foreign on Windows Phone because no other app behaves this way. It is unexpected, disrupts the user experience, and confuses the user. It also takes up valuable real estate by showing a useless 1/5th of a map at the top of the screen.
  • There's no way to search with your voice.
  • When you tap on the search icon, the search box animates in at the top of the screen. This animation is jerky.
  • When you tap on the "map options" button at the bottom right of the map, the "map options" screen opens. There is no animation, so the "map options" screen just instantly appears. This makes the change feel sudden and harsh compared to the rest of the apps. The "map options" screen should use the flip animation. When the user presses the back button, it should use the reverse flip animation to bring you back to the map.
  • When you tap on the "map options" button, the map jerks right before the "map options" screen opens. Sometimes the entire map glitches up and then back down. Sometimes the "my location" dot changes positions. Add this to the lack of a flip animation, and the whole transition to the "map options" screen feels buggy.
  • The same glitchy screen transitions occur for the following screens: Settings, tapping on a location to open it's info card, About, Sign In, and Download Maps. I might be missing one or two, but basically every screen. The point is, this app does not fluidly transition between screens. It glitches around, resulting in a loss of confidence.
  • On the About screen(s), the font for the menu items is too large. It looks out of place.
  • Nokia Maps has a "places feature" that is useless compared to Local Scout. It lacks way too many features for me to even compare the two. What I will say is that Nokia should not try to replace Local Scout. Seeing Local Scout-like functionality in Nokia Maps scares me into thinking they may attempt this one day. That would be a deal breaker unless they come up with something that matches Local Scout in terms of features and user experience.
  • The sharing options are limited in Nokia Maps. Many options such as Facebook or Tap to Send are missing.
 

muhan

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Re: Nokia Maps issues

Well there's an absurd statement...

Ok, I'll respond to your post even though it was completely void of any thoughtful comment or any arguments to back up your statement.

Have you read Elop's burning platform memo?

They dumped their old OS Symbian because it was no longer viable in the market, and they dumped the OS they were developing, Meego, because it was a day late and a dollar short.

The main reason they started looking to use someone else's OS and decided on Windows Phone was because they realized they aren't good at developing quality Phone OS's in a timely manner.
 

muhan

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I'd just like to also throw in my opinion, in the hope that it will reach someone at Nokia who will use this feedback to improve Nokia Maps. For reference, I have AT&T and live on the east coast of the US.

On my Lumia 900, I had downloaded Nokia Maps to use it since it was supposedly better. However, I quickly uninstalled it because I found it to be pretty bad compared to the default Maps app. The odd thing is that I love all of their other apps. Nokia Drive is excellent, City Lens is amazing, Trailers is very useful, etc. In fact, Nokia Maps is the only Nokia app that I don't love.

After I got my 920, I was very disappointed when I found out that the default Maps entry in the app list had been removed. I uninstalled the Nokia Maps app on my 920 and have Local Scout pinned to my start screen. Thank God I can use that workaround to get to the default maps app. To be fair, I did spend some time using Nokia Maps on my 920, just in case they improved it. Unfortunately, it is just as bad. If they completely replace the built in maps in the next Lumia, and they haven't improved Nokia Maps dramatically, I'm afraid it will be a deal breaker for me. This goes double for Local Scout. To be clear, this post is not a rant. I have had two 900s and a 920 and these devices are fantastic. All of Nokia's apps, besides Maps, are fantastic.

My issues with Nokia Maps can be divided into two categories: the data and the user experience. Unfortunately, there are a lot of issues to cover and I apologize for such a long post. Many of these issues relate to lack of polish that cause the app to feel glitchy and stiff. The app does not feel "fast and fluid", causing the user to loose confidence. It also uses an unconventional layout in a few places, causing it to feel foreign to the Windows Phone experience.

Data
  • I realize that Nokia's mapping technology powers both apps, but somehow, the Bing maps app provides better results. I don't understand how that can be the case, but I have compared them head to head and the Bing maps app finds stuff that the Nokia one doesn't. Maybe they are using the same raw map data but the searching algorithm is different? In any case, I don't feel confident using the Nokia maps app. I always fear that I am missing something. Zoom in on the same place using both apps and try a simple search, such as "Haircut" or "Pizza". The results are different, and nearly always better with the default maps app. During this test, I am taking great pains to make sure that they are both zoomed in exactly the same on both.
  • The info cards for various locations are lacking. I can open up the info card for the same location in both apps, and the default maps app will usually show more information. This is probably because Bing is pulling in information from more sources. The Nokia Maps info cards always looks barren compared to the default maps.

User Experience
  • My issues with the user experience start right from the beginning. When you open the default maps app, it opens instantly with no delay. When you open the Nokia Maps app, it shows a splash screen and you have to wait several seconds for it to load. As a developer, I understand the technical reasons why this is. However, as a user, I see mapping as a core function of my phone. It shouldn't feel like an app that is tacked on.
  • The way that the two apps show traffic is different. The default maps app shows traffic on all major roads when you are zoomed out. On the Nokia Maps app, it only shows you part of the traffic when zoomed out. You have to zoom in on a specific area before the traffic shows up in that area. However, once you do that and zoom back out, it will show traffic for that area while zoomed out. This is very odd, and I'm unsure if it is a bug or by design. Either way, it's confusing and I much prefer the way the default maps app shows traffic. It just handles things smoother. It also has the effect of causing me to second guess whether or not the traffic information is accurate. I find myself zooming in all over the place to make sure it has updated everything. This is another example of me not feeling confident.
  • Favorite/Recent places. On the default maps app, when you open the favorite/recent places, it behaves like every other app. The map flips away, and the favorite/recent places flip in full screen. Having this displayed full screen makes sense because there is limited space on a phone. In the Nokia Maps app, the favorites/recent screen does this jerky animation and slides up from the bottom. The map is still visible at the top of the screen, giving an odd cramped effect. This feels foreign on Windows Phone because no other app behaves this way. It is unexpected, disrupts the user experience, and confuses the user. It also takes up valuable real estate by showing a useless 1/5th of a map at the top of the screen.
  • There's no way to search with your voice.
  • When you tap on the search icon, the search box animates in at the top of the screen. This animation is jerky.
  • When you tap on the "map options" button at the bottom right of the map, the "map options" screen opens. There is no animation, so the "map options" screen just instantly appears. This makes the change feel sudden and harsh compared to the rest of the apps. The "map options" screen should use the flip animation. When the user presses the back button, it should use the reverse flip animation to bring you back to the map.
  • When you tap on the "map options" button, the map jerks right before the "map options" screen opens. Sometimes the entire map glitches up and then back down. Sometimes the "my location" dot changes positions. Add this to the lack of a flip animation, and the whole transition to the "map options" screen feels buggy.
  • The same glitchy screen transitions occur for the following screens: Settings, tapping on a location to open it's info card, About, Sign In, and Download Maps. I might be missing one or two, but basically every screen. The point is, this app does not fluidly transition between screens. It glitches around, resulting in a loss of confidence.
  • On the About screen(s), the font for the menu items is too large. It looks out of place.
  • Nokia Maps has a "places feature" that is useless compared to Local Scout. It lacks way too many features for me to even compare the two. What I will say is that Nokia should not try to replace Local Scout. Seeing Local Scout-like functionality in Nokia Maps scares me into thinking they may attempt this one day. That would be a deal breaker unless they come up with something that matches Local Scout in terms of features and user experience.
  • The sharing options are limited in Nokia Maps. Many options such as Facebook or Tap to Send are missing.

I agree completely with pretty much everything you say. I could live with the UI/usability issues, but the traffic and data issues are really killers for me. Anyone who thinks Nokia Maps is a good app really is not very sophisticated or just a Nokia apologist blindly defending them.
 

PBNkapamilya

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I've been reading the so-called "concerns" on this thread, and all it did was to make me shake my head.

Let me point out some things:
  • It was Microsoft's idea to make Nokia Maps the default maps software, not Nokia's. They've somehow found Nokia Maps a better option, so that's what they did.
  • Nokia Maps is and forever will be WP8's default maps, even on non-Nokia phones. The guy from the HERE team said that they are dealing with the problem of the other apps opening on Bing Maps, which only means that they are going to get rid of any trace of Bing Maps on WP8. Deal with it.
  • I've found Nokia Maps to be a sufficient experience. And I live in the Philippines, which should technically not be a priority for the makers of Nokia Maps, but somehow it is. I just wish there were more places listed on Local Scout.

So there. Call me a Nokia apologist all you want, but I'm just telling the truth.
 

GoodThings2Life

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So you know what I did yesterday? I completely "uninstalled" Nokia Maps. I said to **** with it. I don't like it, I don't use it, and I won't miss it.

You know what happened? Nothing of consequence. When I click an address from a page or email or appointment, the maps app loads, I still click Directions, and I still click "Drive". I can also still open Drive directly and enter my destination from there. I can also Bing Search for a location and click "Drive" right from the location listing.

Brilliant. Simple. Fast... the way it's meant to be. F*** Nokia Maps. :)
 

GoodThings2Life

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I've been reading the so-called "concerns" on this thread, and all it did was to make me shake my head.

Let me point out some things:
  • I've found Nokia Maps to be a sufficient experience. And I live in the Philippines, which should technically not be a priority for the makers of Nokia Maps, but somehow it is. I just wish there were more places listed on Local Scout.

So there. Call me a Nokia apologist all you want, but I'm just telling the truth.

I agree completely. It's a good solution, it's just redundant for a lot of us... and having Maps and Drive is kinda confusing to people. Personally, I feel like Drive should just be the default app and Maps can go away... oh wait, it can (see my other post above this one). :)
 

hwalker84

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I understand perfectly well the difference between Windows Phone Maps which you call Bing maps and Nokia Maps. I understand that Nokia provides the "data" for both. Yet I get different search results for queries from within the 2 maps. I get local traffic info on Windows Phone Maps where on Nokia maps, I only get highway traffic. There are many other differences which I pointed out in the original post which you ignore.

Instead of being a Nokia apologist, maybe we can get Nokia to improve their Maps app?
I agree. The people in this thread are trying to make you seem like a fool. While the default maps app and the Nokia maps app use the same data the look and feel, speed, and results are different. It doesn't make sense for the default map app to be hidden on the 920.
 

lordofthereef

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I agree. The people in this thread are trying to make you seem like a fool. While the default maps app and the Nokia maps app use the same data the look and feel, speed, and results are different. It doesn't make sense for the default map app to be hidden on the 920.

as mentioned before, the default app is "hidden" on all wp8 devices. This is a conscious effort by MS to transition into Nokia maps for the platform.
 

hwalker84

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Simple fix for Nokia.... Stop development of the Nokia Maps app. Continue to provide the mapping data for the default map app as Microsoft is much better at UI's and strangely at using your own data.
 

andrelamont

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No its not. Pick up a 8X and its the same map UI as before. Just powered by Nokia data.

I agree, not sure where he got that information from...</scratches head>

I simple browse of HTC WP8 products would show that the this viewpoint is not correct. As a matter of fact, Nokia is supposed to be working with other 3rd party OEM to get Nokia Drive on their HARDWARE




As other have mentioned, having the same back-end engine/services doesn't mean the presentation layer/UI will behave the same. There could be inefficiency in how you display the same information to the user as well as user experience.

Experiment using the web based versions of Bing & Nokia( Here )
Using the same engine. Driving from Ohio Buckeye Stadium to Cleveland Browns Stadium

start: 411 Woody Hayes Dr, Columbus, OH 43210
end: 100 Alfred Lerner Way, Cleveland, OH 44114

Using Nokia/Here 11 steps vs Using Bing Maps 14 steps!!

Now here is where it gets interesting as they both use the same mapping data!!
Bing Maps puts a note at the end of the directions that says:
"If you reach Erie Side Ave, you've gone too far"


The Nokia Maps just drops you off at Erie Side Ave!!! So you see that even if you have the same data points the maps could be different. Heck, even looking at the experiment I question if the presentation layer is the only difference.

I am not saying which mapping service is better but just wanted to highlight that there are differences even when using the same mapping data points. So...a person could have a solid basis for saying Bing Maps is better than Nokia Maps, or Nokia Maps are better than Bing Maps

Also map fine tuning might be better in non-us places for Nokia services...
 

lordofthereef

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No its not. Pick up a 8X and its the same map UI as before. Just powered by Nokia data.
There is a Bing Maps app that you can load? My understanding is that in WP8 there is not. You can GET TO the Bing maps (the same way you can on a Nokia device) but cannot load the app by itself. Is this not true?

EDIT: I guess I stand corrected. Apologies. For those wondering where I got this, articles like this one as well as this one are a bit misleading. I thought I remembered MS announcing that Nokia Maps is where they are going from here-on out as well. Perhaps they were just talking about the backend? Or maybe this will be replaced fully in future WP8 builds? I have done a lot of reading, but only played with an 8x for about ten minutes a couple of days before the Lumia launch. Apologies, again, for the misinformation.
 
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andrelamont

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...For those wondering where I got this, articles like this one as well as this one are a bit misleading....

You are right!! I would say terribly misleading....even Nokia official blog left the user with the impression that Nokia Maps/Drive would be available to every WP8 user/OEM.

They forgot to mention a little minor detail about licensing $$ for OEMs and having Nokia branded across the map. I liken it me listing my phone on craiglist for free...as long as you are willing to donate $300
 

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