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Downloadable map-data and offline turn by turn navigation in Maps [answered]

asked 2013-12-24 18:17:59 +0300

updated 2015-07-13 15:05:58 +0300

simo gravatar image

Nokia Drive is one of the best offline turn-by-turn gps navigation systems out there, and it comes for free. The Jolla Maps app is based on the same framework (HERE Maps from Nokia), so I'd really like it to be fully usable in offline mode (ability to download maps for specific countries to device and have turn-by-turn voice navigation). This is essential when traveling abroad or in low-signal areas where mobile data connection is not available/too expensive, and I hope it is already on your roadmap.

Edit 11.5.2014: Answer "We're thinking about it :)" has been here for a while (since the Christmas). A lot of votes both to the question, comments and the answer. Any updates, Jolla? Worth a roadmap tag?

Edit 06.10.2014: There are another 207 votes on this related wiki post

Edit 19.5.2014: Cloud-based HERE services like synchronisation (via Nokia or even Jolla Account?) of favourite places and routes should also be implemented.

Edit 7.7.2015: Quotation from answer suggested s correct, the time gap mentioned is 6 months ago: "We aspire to offer this feature in the shortest time possible, however I don't see any possibility at the moment that this would materialize in a native form at least until next January."- Removed correct answer tag for this, looking forward for an update to the answer

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The question has been closed for the following reason "the question is answered, an answer was accepted" by olf
close date 2017-12-04 15:39:55.782497

Comments

33

I wouldn't mind to pay for this up to 10€ for the app and extra money for offline maps. Like for example europe for 50€. Or DACH for 25€. Have a look at Sygic shop for price comparisions.

Morpog ( 2013-12-24 18:29:21 +0300 )edit
13

I also wouldn't mind to pay some for offline maps. Would be super handy when you're abroad and have no data connection or don't want to pay criminal charges for data roaming.

Winfried ( 2013-12-24 21:43:06 +0300 )edit
15

Nokia Drive is not free. Those phones getting it without separate payment have the price included into phone price. I agree this feature is needed. Smartphone while roaming is too often useless as "every" software requires data connection.

Penguin ( 2013-12-24 22:19:20 +0300 )edit
38

This is definately needed feature in the Maps app of Jolla. Priority should be given to turn-by-turn voice navigation (to make maps usable while driving), and then the ability to download maps for a spesific country for example for offilne use.

Good, that Jolla is already thinking about this ;)

foss4ever ( 2013-12-25 06:45:16 +0300 )edit
13

I'm ready to pay reasonable price for the offline maps feature.

avhakola ( 2013-12-25 22:50:14 +0300 )edit

15 Answers

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52

answered 2014-09-01 09:41:48 +0300

stezz gravatar image

Hi,

I am a bit surprised that this is considered not answered since I thought I answered Dec 26... Anyway let's see if I can manage to properly answer the question:

  • We (Jolla) don't have the offline map/routing technology in house, i.e. we have to buy it from 3rd parties.
  • Currently we have HERE [TM] online maps
  • HERE does also have a offline client
  • Even though those 2 things seem exactly like the same thing, they are made of two very different technologies so implementing the offline part would mean almost implementing from scratch. It's not a switch you toggle in the server settings.
  • Of course there are many other parties that we could talk to but that does not change the fact that we are talking about a completely new project
  • It's not like going to the supermarket, taking one box from the shelf and putting it in the cart. It's a tiny bit more complex. Sure if you are Sammy it's easy. We are not Sammy.

We aspire to offer this feature in the shortest time possible, however I don't see any possibility at the moment that this would materialize in a native form at least until next January.

There are several third party (android, free or paid) solutions that have proven to work well in this area and at the moment that is the best we can offer.

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Comments

10

@stezz Thank you for clarifying that hot issue! Question - by "next Jabuary" you meant January 2015? Otherwise most of us understand the complexity and the resources needed. Of course that is not making us happier for offline maps missing from Jolla. :) Sail on!

zlatko ( 2014-09-01 09:53:06 +0300 )edit
9

Maybe Nokia will make an app themself as they start to write HERE maps for Tizen and Samsung Android phones.

Sailor ( 2014-09-01 10:32:36 +0300 )edit
3

maybe nokia will make an app themself to support jolla and sailfish ;-)

peter-berlin ( 2014-09-01 12:18:04 +0300 )edit
3

"We aspire to offer this feature in the shortest time possible, however I don't see any possibility at the moment that this would materialize in a native form at least until next January." Is there already someone working on this, or are everyone working on more urgent things and this is just planned feature at the moment?

avhakola ( 2014-09-01 13:55:47 +0300 )edit
1

This answer seems as if it was a surprise for you (Jolla) that the current online, tile based, no spoken navigation, would be deemed insufficient for common purposes by many. I'm perfectly aware that creating offline navigation isn't an easy thing to do. However, given the large similarities between platforms, involved people and companies, I (apparently falsely) assumed it would be a port of the N9's app. That would seem to me as relative straight forward and cost efficient. Apparently I was wrong?

Fuzzillogic ( 2014-09-01 19:54:48 +0300 )edit
31

answered 2014-05-31 15:41:12 +0300

Kiranos gravatar image

updated 2014-05-31 16:43:56 +0300

Another approach would be to crowd fund marble (http://marble.kde.org/) to support sailfishos, It already supports maemo ( http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=67316 ) and the devs are open to support SailfishOS but lack of hardware and funds is the issue. Get together and fund marble to do this might be the best and quickest way (also no monthly subscription plan etc) to get this to our jolla phones.

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Comments

Doe Marble support vector maps? If not, I think it is of limited offline use. You can download region tiles, but for larger areas that will amount to much more data than vector maps. Also, the representation of vector maps can be altered on-the-fly. Think of night-mode, optimized for cycling vs driving, etc. That doesn't mean I wouldn't like to see Marble on Jolla :)

Fuzzillogic ( 2014-05-31 17:42:29 +0300 )edit
4

from: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/KDE_Marble

  • Marble has a search function for POIs which queries nominatim.openstreetmap.org among other services.
  • Marble also has a tracking function to display current track, save it to kml.
  • Routing is possible using OpenRouteService, MoNav, Routino, Gosmore, YOURS and MapQuest as a backend. Since version 1.0, turn-by-turn instructions, a route guidance mode and voice navigation is supported.
  • Last, it is possible to display many vector files, including gpx, kml, osm, pnt and (when compiled against libshape) ESRI shapefiles.
Kiranos ( 2014-05-31 21:37:45 +0300 )edit

@Kiranos it seems to be experimental. It's more than a click away in the current desktop version.

Fuzzillogic ( 2014-06-01 16:31:11 +0300 )edit
2

Navit can be ported: it has all needed features, just should be beautified :)

dez ( 2014-09-22 20:11:27 +0300 )edit

@dez I installed Navit from OpenRepos but it does not seem to work: https://openrepos.net/content/metalstrolch/navit

baptx ( 2019-07-14 17:58:50 +0300 )edit
3

answered 2014-05-31 11:30:04 +0300

thomas gravatar image

updated 2014-05-31 11:35:36 +0300

As in the previous answer stated, OSMAnd works pretty well and is absolutely stable (on my Nokia 5800 the Nokia navigation SW crashed quite often, especially in situations when urgently needed ;) ...).

As add-on to the previous answer: By default OsmAnd installs the maps into the Jolla's main flash (since the android environment SDCard directory is mapped here), which is not desirable. Under

https://together.jolla.com/question/30478/app-request-osmand-navigation/#post-id-43917

the advanced user can find a description, how to store a large amount of maps on the real SD card.

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Comments

I guess, you can just update the answer ^ with this information

dez ( 2014-05-31 11:33:48 +0300 )edit

Maybe not with too few points, but the add-on should be commented to the earlier answer so the one updating the answer could lift these issues up to be included in the answer, especially if the comment get's some votes. Now this won't be voted up as it seems like a duplicate answer.

simo ( 2014-08-12 00:59:42 +0300 )edit
19

answered 2014-05-30 23:50:31 +0300

dez gravatar image

updated 2014-05-31 09:32:15 +0300

My (personal) advice (while this feature is not available) is to use OsmAnd application (Android, needs Alien Dalvik to be installed, it can be downloaded from Yandex, F-Droid, Aptoide etc. stores) providing both navigation and ability to download and use offline maps. Open Street Map used by this application contains many information frequently not available in commercial maps. Try it ;)

P.S. See also

https://together.jolla.com/question/30478/app-request-osmand-navigation/

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OsmAnd

https://together.jolla.com/question/102/what-is-the-best-mapsnavigation-application-to-use-on-jolla/

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Comments

Just in time ^^ thanx for your advice, I'll give it a try or two ;-)

Someoneortwo ( 2014-05-30 23:59:07 +0300 )edit
1

I bought the OsmAnd+ version on Amazon App store, it supports the developers. It's also a more recent version (1.7.4) than e.g. on F-Droid. It works really well.

steabert ( 2014-05-31 00:14:46 +0300 )edit
2

+1 for OsmAnd. While the UI leaves something to be desired, it is functional and works just fine on Jolla. There are drawbacks: you can't use the (google play services?) TTS-engine for voice navigation, only the limited prerecorded messages are available.

In any case, it shows how valuable Open Street Map is. In fact, Appello, the creator of the current native Maps app on Jolla IIRC, has switched to OSM.

Fuzzillogic ( 2014-05-31 03:41:07 +0300 )edit
3
  1. That's not a good solution, because it's an Android App.
  2. OSM are not that precise and reliable like "commercial Maps" - that's why the most car manufactures trust Nokia (4 out of 5 new cars with in-build-navigation are powered by Nokia Maps).

And last but not the least: does your answer mean that we won't get turn-by-turn navigation and offline maps in a native app?

torcida ( 2014-05-31 05:18:04 +0300 )edit
1

@torcida Do not search any 2nd meaning in my answer :) I proposed solution available just now and I am (personally) successfully using. For features schedule track Jolla roadmap.

dez ( 2014-05-31 09:31:19 +0300 )edit
90

answered 2013-12-24 20:09:06 +0300

lbt gravatar image

We're thinking about it :)
This non-answer just stops vote questions from clogging up the 'Unanswered' section

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Comments

8

Just to clarify this is not something we can do alone. We depend on 3rd parties for Maps content, routing, traffic info, etc... We don't have this stuff in house.

stezz ( 2013-12-26 15:37:26 +0300 )edit
46

I think that everybody understands this. However, HERE maps do support offline use on Symbian, Harmattan and Windows Phone. People are asking to add this support to Jolla.

And I do understand that this feature might cost additional money. But some people are willing to pay for it.

Oleksii ( 2013-12-26 15:46:03 +0300 )edit
12

Money is a part of the story but there are also other aspects. However we hear you loud 'n' clear.

stezz ( 2013-12-26 15:57:07 +0300 )edit
6

Indeed, I would really -even paid- want it in Sailfish!

wim de vries ( 2013-12-27 18:30:47 +0300 )edit
35

i'm sure for some users offline navigation is a must. and since the majority of users come as ex-n9 users, this would be a terrible downgrade. for ex. I will not switch to jolla until I get offline navigation. and I really believe we should not pay for it(windows phone users have it for free and Microsoft does not own Nokia mapping division)

DanyZ ( 2013-12-28 00:59:05 +0300 )edit

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Asked: 2013-12-24 18:17:59 +0300

Seen: 26,871 times

Last updated: Dec 02 '17