Notices

Guys,

Can anyone suggest a reasonably good mapping / navigation solution for the N900. The ovi maps is useless.. and I don't need a fancy voice navigation... just a good zoomable map (as good as google maps) with gps position overlayed on it.

I've tried using Mapper, but it just doesn't run well on the N900 it seems. Too resource heavy and keeps hanging the device.

Help please...

Do you need an offline solution? Or will an online solution work? Besides Navit, Mapper, Ovi Maps, and Sygic I think that pretty much exhausts the offline maps. If you can work with online then there's Google Maps (several different versions from the desktop web version to the iPhone web version, to the ones customized for a better browsing experience on the N900).

Using an online solution in India is a pain in India without the 3G network in place. Would want to use an offline solution (with the GPS position being the only online thingy). Which one would you recommend?

Here's what I've experienced with the 3 while on my quest for a decent mapping/navigation app on the N900. I tested them all in a major US city (Portland,OR), and while the N900 was mounted in my car and only controlled with one finger:

Ovi Maps:
Cheap (comes with phone lol..). POI search is ok at best, only good for finding locations that you know the address for. During road tests, EVERYTIME the routing system would try and route me over imaginary streets, or drive in circles, or turn down a wrongly-named street. Navigating the application with one finger is ok, most of the buttons are small, and it's hard to hit them at a distance if the unit is mounted. Also the cursor has a horrible case of the 'spins' if you stop moving for any length of time (known bug, fixed in 1.2 i think but that won't be out until ????)

Navit
Cheap (opensource). Uses OpenStreetMap, so maps are kept up to date by volunteers. It's impossible to use this application with one finger while the N900 is mounted at a distance. Hell it's nearly impossible even if it was 6" from your face..you definitely need a stylus. Routing was alright (it didn't try and get me lost like Ovi maps), there were a few graphical errors/bugs on the screen that would appear/disappear while I was testing, and the application crashed twice. Definitely needs some work

Sygic
Expensive. POI search was not as good as I had hoped (there are no restaurants, lol..), and I haven't figured out a good source to add more POIs (someone please help! ). Other than that, it's an excellent navigational solution. It was a breeze to operate the interface with one finger, the routing was superb (though it needs a little work as sometimes it would pick a route that was slightly longer than the shortcut i knew ). Voice-guided turn by turn makes this great app even better.

I'm in no way affiliated with any of the above projects, I'm just a normal N900 user that misses the excellent POI searching and routing of Google maps on the iphone :P

thanks a lot for these reviews craftyguy! the problem though isn't yet solved for me.... seems sygic is the probable answer... will have to check if asian/indian maps are there. last time i checked it wasn't there.

After using Ovi Maps on a few bike tours, i have concluded it's not useful to me due to the inability to recalculate routes without a data connection, or save and restore a route, and the overall failness of it as an app. So, i am surveying the available alternatives.

I updated the wiki entry on navigation http://wiki.maemo.org/Navigation_Tools. I don't have personal experience with most of the listed apps, so it would be good if the respective developers or users could take a look and make sure the comments are still accurate. There is a lack of non-navigation software described such as ecoach, etc., so feel free to add that to the third section.

Does sygic need a network connection to calculate a route? If not, it should be moved up to the "Stand Alone" section.

Summary of present wiki page

There are only two complete navigation apps that work without a data plan: Navit and Sygic. As i don't have and don't plan on getting a data plan, i will give Navit a go (the thread about it makes it sound like a moving target). It's a bonus that i have actually done some OSM contributing. The documentation for Navit linked on the wiki is very out of date so i will try to update things if i wade through the setup successfully. If that doesn't work for me i will consider Sygic. Sygic has to be purchased and doesn't have complete maps available AFAIK. Edit: Latest release of navit is easy to install, with instructions here. It works with free garmin maps (not proprietary garmin maps), openstreetmaps, and a couple others. The search feature isn't very good yet, but if you add a bookmark by zooming in to the location on the map you need to go to, you can get good routing that is customizable to vehicle and it will reroute as necessary.

There are two complete navigation apps that require a data plan: Mappero, and Ovi. Ovi lacks turn-by-turn directions but probably has the best maps. Mappero uses open street maps, so your maps are as good as your local mappers have been (including you). It can also use google maps (online, of course) for routing.

Again, please correct any inaccuracies here and in the wiki. Also, there seems to be a shortage of open source nav software using Qt. There's no indication anywhere on the navit page that it uses Qt, but i did see some commit comments that suggest it does. This seems rather unfortunate for the upcoming Meego... Edit: More recent Navit builds have a Qt renderer. Excellent. Now we just need the Maemo developer to engage with the community so that we don't have to use an old version because it's the only one people know how to make work. Update: there are two navit devs focusing on maemo and the end plan is to use a new gui based on QML and the qpainter renderer. Problems with the autobuilder and lack of time mean that the repository version doesn't get updated often now, but there are regular builds available at http://www.chollya.org/navit/, and i have a script to install them painlessly (see signature). Some help preparing svg icons for map features is needed, if you are an artist.

Ovi maps is hairy minge.

Sygic does not require a data connection, although GPS aquires a signal much quicker with it.

Sygic is up there for me. Works perfectly out of the box.

Thanks. I moved Sygic to Stand Alone.

The GPS lock time is ridiculously slow without connection, for sure. Does sygic give pedestrian/cyclist-specific routing options?

Yep. Sygic gives the following options under the 'Planning Preferences':

Fastest route
Economic route
Shortest route
Pedestrian route
Bicycle route

No idea how good these options are. I've only ever used it on economic mode.

My usual choice is Sygic, perfect for my use... But you should also note that mappero is also able to use google maps, that are much more completes than OSM, this is why, even if it needs a data plan, Mappero is my second choice.
OSM is a great project, but depending on where you live or where you go, it still lack the totality of data (ie: where I leave it's blank for all the region!) I know we can and should contribute to enhance OSM, but this is not the point when you need your GPS to find somewhere rapidly. This is the reason why actually Navit is a no go for me, sorry