Another new feature of the new Nokia Maps is that you can get public transport directions directly from the map – you simply need to do a long press on the place where you want to go and you will have options to choose Walk, Drive or Public Transport options to your destination. Additionally, if you are an English Speaker in UK, you can even try out the new Voice Search in Nokia Maps. Just tap the microphone and use your voice to search for a point of interest.

These are the new features that we have introduced. On top of these features, Nokia Maps Suite for Nokia Belle already have offline navigation, and you can download free maps for your country or region via Wi-Fi, thus saving on time and data costs.  The new Nokia Maps Suite supports tens of millions of points of interest in over 100 countries with navigable maps.

You can download the new Nokia Maps Suite to your Nokia Belle smartphone from Nokia Beta Labs. In case you have a Nokia Anna smartphone, you can upgrade to Nokia Belle and then download the Nokia Maps Suite from Nokia Beta Labs.  Let us know what you think of the new Nokia Maps Suite!

Click here to view the embedded video.

And of course, let us know what you think!

Finnsurf, like the name indicates, is the world’s first Finnish surf film, about five incredibly dedicated  Finnish surfers who chase waves through the Finnish coast. When I first heard about the film being made, I was surprised – and may be even a bit shocked given how cold Finland can be in spring and fall, when the height of the surf season is – the ocean water is near freezing, it rains a lot and wind chill adds to the cold.

Finnish surfers wait for a storm front somewhere in Finland to produce big enough wind waves either on the Gulfs of the Baltic Sea or on the lakes inland. For me, this is not just a documentary about surfers, it is a documentary about dedication, fighting against odds and adventure.

Maps.nokia.com and the Nokia Maps API were both lucky to be a part of this wonderful documentary. Watch the trailer below, and you can follow the film around the festival circuit on their facebook page. 

Click here to view the embedded video.

Adi from WorldofPhones tried out Nokia Maps and Drive on Lumia, and talks about them in his three part review. We are covering the Maps and Drive part but make sure to read the full review:

Adi says “….. Nokia Maps is the solution I’m most comfortable using on a mobile phone….  First it’s maps like you know, then satellite view (aerial view) and third is public transport. This classification is a much better approach and quite practical too….  Nokia Drive basically is the navigation aspect of Nokia Maps with the voice guidance and offline map data you are familiar with. The UI gets an overhaul here and on Windows Phone it looks very different from what I remember seeing it as. It’s very easy to use the app and GPS locks are real quick even indoors. I’ve not seen such quick GPS locks and one must congratulate Nokia on simply nailing this one! …… The labeling on Nokia Maps is also more accurate….. and that’s a key differentiator and important feature. My vote as of now still stays with Nokia’s solution.”

Thank you Adi for your kind words! You can read the complete article at WorldofPhones.net

 ’Driving’ in the sea

Most of us have used Nokia Drive. We use it to commute in our city, to drive to our weekend destination and even to go on a road trip. Jade from Philippines has a rather unique Nokia Drive experience to share.

“Back November last year, me and some of my classmates went to Bantayan Island, Cebu…. We traveled by ferry, not a big boat but enough for few dozen of passengers, from Sagay City port to main Bantayan Island …..

I’ve fired up the Nokia Drive on Nokia N9 wondering if this will work right in the middle of the sea….. There were few connection cuts on both satellite and cellsites but overall the Nokia Drive worked smoothly because of the excellent performance of the assisted-GPS on Nokia N9….. The only issue I have had was on the calculations of my set points, start(boat) to end (center of Bantayan)….. What it did was it calculated the distance from the land (port) and not from where I was exactly. But in the end, docking the ship on the nearest point is better than getting lost.”

Thank your sharing the story with us Jade! You can read the complete story and look at the screen shots at his blog.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Then, we have Nokia Maps on S40 series.

Click here to view the embedded video.

And last but not the least, we have a very cool looking Jay Montano experiencing Nokia Drive

Click here to view the embedded video.

What are some of the great maps and navigation related videos that you have seen lately?

Neighborhoods in Berlin are called Kiez, which originated from a Slavic word, meaning house. There are around 20 Kiez areas in Berlin, and they include their own sub culture and infrastructure.  Some of the more famous ones are Akazienkiez in Schöneberg and Wrangelkiez in Kreuzberg.

The Turks are the largest minority in Berlin. The Kiez concept is not alien to them – it is called a Mahalle in Turkish. It is derived from the times of the Ottoman Empire, during which the word was used to denote the smallest administrative entity.

The Portuguese call their neighborhoods Bairro. They are not administrative divisions, but rather a community. The most famous of all bairros in Lisbon is the Bairro Alto, called Bairro, by the locals.

The French call their neighborhoods Quartier, from which derived the word Quarter. Now you know how the French Quarter in New Orleans got its name.

A discussion about neighborhoods is incomplete without mentioning the Contrade, or wards, of Siena. There are 17 of them that have taken the neighborhood sprit and rivalry to new levels.  They were set up in the Middle Ages in order to supply troops to the many military companies that were hired to defend Siena as it fought to defend its independence from Florence and other nearby city-states. As time has gone by, the contrade became areas of localized patriotism. Their roles have broadened so that every important event – baptisms, deaths, marriages, church holidays, and victories at the Palio, even wine or food festivals – is celebrated only within one’s own contrada.  Every contrada has its own museum, fountain and baptismal font, motto, allied contrada and adversary contrada, typically a neighbor. They use an animal or a bird as their symbol, and their own colors and flags represents them all.

Every year, the 17 contrades have two mix-breed horse races, one in July and another in August. Cinephiles may remember seeing this scene in the James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace. The racing field consists of ten horses, so not all seventeen contrade can take part in the Palio on any occasion. The seven contrade that did not take part in that month of the previous year are automatically included; three more are chosen by draw. The rest of them support their allies in the race and boo their adversaries.  Part of the game is for the wards to prevent rival contrade from winning – your rival losing the race is as important as you winning it yourself.

What do you love about your neighborhood? What words do you use in your mother tongue to denote it?

Many of you have shown deep interest in working with us to build maps, and have been demanding to be made part of the map-making process. Now, in response to that demand, here’s YOUR chance to help fill those remaining gaps in our maps!

We’ve just launched Nokia Map Creator, a fun tool on maps.nokia.com that literally lets YOU map out your local neighbourhood! You can also use Map Creator to make small edits and additions to existing maps. The tool is super simple to use. The best thing about it is that your work will be visible to all maps.nokia.com users—immediately! Your Map Creator content will also be shared via regular map-data updates for Nokia Maps on mobile and web, after NAVTEQ validation checks.

Our initial focus with Map Creator is to get more information on previously unmapped countries including: Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tanzania, Angola, Burundi, Sri Lanka, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, and Grenada. But the list of countries will continue growing over the coming months. In those parts of the world, your work will complement and help speed up the continuous work of our dedicated Nokia Maps team.

Map Creator already lets you draw streets and footpaths. You can also name new streets and add key information such as driving directions, vehicle type characteristics or paving type. But that’s just the start! You will soon also be able to add even more types of map content such as parks, forests, lakes and rivers. In short, all the types of content you are familiar with seeing in Nokia Maps!

So, what are you waiting for? It’s time to get mapping!!! Access Map Creator here to get started: maps.nokia.com/mapcreator

The fun thing about working in technology is that sometimes you are lucky enough to build products you can use every day. And Nokia Maps is my favourite example so far. We ask the questions ‘where should we go?’ all the time – even when we are at home.  To help answer that question we built the Nokia Maps experience for Lumia combining the great Symbian assets our fans were used to with the beautiful Panaroama experience on the Windows phone.  And the result is an experience we think you are going to love when you are out and not sure where to go next or how to get there.

With Nokia Maps you can find the best nearby places, then check out reviews and see photos and user comments to hear about other peoples’ experiences there. It’s all about seeing the big picture, getting a real feel for a place and making informed choices. Once you decide on your destination you can use smart routing that includes walking, driving, and public transport to get know how to reach your destination and how long it will take.

Of course, places are more than just points on a map, so we’ve brought back the human touch with Nokia Maps. Connect easily with your destination, check out the one touch access to phone numbers, email addresses and websites. Plus you can share places with your friends via email, SMS, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Windows Live.

Some of you had a chance to check out maps as part of demos since we launched the phone. And it’s great to see you’re loving it! Wp7lab team says that “With information about public transport, driving, local points of interest and even dinning locations, the Nokia Maps is a great companion for those that like to travel and explore new things.”

Mobiletechworld was of the opinion that “Nokia Maps will be a really awesome addition to Windows Phone”

Clinton Jeff wrote that “The motto of Nokia Maps on Windows Phone is “feel like a local everywhere” so if you’re traveling around, here’s a great app for ya. I’m a huge fan of Nokia Maps, as you might already know, so I’m excited to see it released as an alternative to the *ugh* Bing Maps app.”

Thomas Ricker said: “It starts with a “beta” splash screen before zeroing in on your location. But for many, the fact that Nokia Maps is available for download is reason to celebrate….. Maps provides local walking, driving and public transport directions while highlighting cafes and other local points of interests over 3G or Wi-Fi networks. Of course, there’s a social element to Maps allowing you to review and share your location as well. You can also pin your favorite places to the Windows Phone home screen for quick access in the future. “

On twitter, we have @slodge: “Wow! Nokia Maps on Wp7 is superb – it gives me complete directions including train and tube times to get into london – wow – stunning!”

@mega_me tested it in New Zealand and says “Nokia maps on #wp7 really works in New Zealand, found everything from: Airport, Sushi, School, Foodtown, there’s “Places”/local scout… “

@rikindshah thinks “Nokia maps on WP7 best maps around any other. Blew away with its accuracy and features. Superb.”

@CristianCson feels “Super nice with Commute in the directions in #Nokia #Maps #wp7”

Finally, @prjkthack sums it up with “Wow. Nokia Maps is actually very nice. #wp7”

I hope you will all join us in exploring the world and finding the best places, wherever you go.
Download Nokia Maps on your Nokia Windows Phone – go to the marketplace through your Lumia and search for Nokia Maps. Take your maps for a spin, and let us know how you liked it.

First of all, it’s time to announce all our lucky LOCAL winners who suggested places in their respective capital cities. So, big congratulations to:

Rome

@JM_Lion for Giolitti – http://nka.fi/LpXgs

@imarck90 for Via Fabio Massimo – http://nka.fi/U9bMJ

Ices_Eyes from the blog for the Colosseum – http://nka.fi/Gs4tT

Berlin

@obiwan007 for Lorenz Adlon – http://nka.fi/4jzcC

@stefanklute for the Reichstag – http://nka.fi/DFphJ

@Nokia_Fan for Revaler Eck – http://nka.fi/EdAG2

@corja78 for CurryFritze – http://nka.fi/NW5Wj

@taknil for C-Base – http://nka.fi/MgDYu

London

@penumbral for the Doctor Who Experience – http://nka.fi/DTzsJ

@gecktodd149 for the Saatchi Gallery – http://nka.fi/FNNyA

@rd3d for the London Eye – http://nka.fi/LWGBY

@hishamelfar for Forbidden Planet – http://nka.fi/PeEEc

@GambitUK for Nopi – http://nka.fi/Fvaq3

@humanb3an for Chinatown – http://nka.fi/4hxcs

@genoxs for the Olympic Park – http://nka.fi/2gpUB

@twicebricebrice for St Dunstans Hill – http://nka.fi/27BMa

@juliegri for Hungerford Bridge – http://nka.fi/NRnbk

@pyschomania666 for County Hall Namco Station – http://nka.fi/VFprJ

@motoriousfranco for the Eros Monument in Piccadilly Circus – http://nka.fi/Po7K2

All of your suggestions were brilliant, and we’ll be in touch with all of you shortly (read on…). But now it’s time for the big reveal; the GRAND PRIZE WINNER who’ll be taking home €1000 to spend on their passion and receive a helicopter tour of their city IS (drum roll please)…

@CRISTI_TROHIN! Congratulations!!!

All of the prize winners will be receiving a DM from @nokia_connects or email over the next few days on how to claim your prize, so if you’re not following @nokia_connects already, make sure you do so.

Even though the Mapstronaut’s mission is over for now, keep your eyes on the blog as we’ll be announcing another amazing competition NEXT WEEK for you to win more AWESOME PRIZES!

Mapstronaut signing off…

@genoxs carried on with the theme of ‘big and tall’ by asking the Mapstronaut to check out the biggest building site in London – the 2012 Olympic Park. As you can see it’s well on course to be completely finished in time for the London 2012 Olympics, so we look forward to seeing the finished article in summer…

Next, the Mapstronaut was off to North London to visit yet another football club – the famous home of Premier League giants (though not so much of late), Arsenal FC. This suggestion came from @vbarsenal (where else would he have suggested??); here he is with the famous Arsenal cannons outside the Emirates Stadium. I’m sure both @vbarsenal and @choky_arsyi (who suggested Stamford Bridge for the Mapstronaut to visit yesterday) look forward to the Chelsea v Arsenal game next year… maybe you two should get together for it!

Moving right into the heart of The City, the next location was a hidden London treasure suggested by our good friend Tom Jones from Tiredoflondontiredoflife.com (a man who knows more about London than a London Cab Driver).  This is the ‘London Stone’– the point at which Romans used to measure all distances in Britannia, also known as the ‘Stone of Brutus’. Rather inexplicably, it’s being moved (not for the first time either). Does that mean we’ll have to shift everywhere else as well…?

Keep an eye out tomorrow for our Mapstronaut wrap up post, where we’ll be revisiting all of the sights from the last week on the road with Nokia Maps and announcing all our local winners, as well as our GRAND PRIZE WINNER…

See you tomorrow!