Nokia Has Better Maps Than Apple and Maybe Even Google

Nokia has (or rather <i>had</i>) Better-Many-Things, and absolutely no idea what to do with them.<p>They keep cutting trees but there's nobody in the forest to hear them fall, because they put huge signs all around saying "WE DON'T REALLY LIKE CUTTING TREES". A Microsoft (or why not, Facebook) acquisition is basically their only hope at this point, bar miracles.

My problem with Apple's maps hasn't been the quality of the maps but the quality of the search. I was looking for the Sea Dog Brew Pub last night. When I put "seadog" into iOS 6 maps, no result, despite it being only a few miles away. Google Maps nailed it. Both maps had a record of the POI, but only Google's had the basic smarts to handle the missing space.<p>More complicated examples are even worse for Apple, abs typically effortless for Google.<p>Unless Nokia has all that fuzzy match/page rank DNA, I'm not sure simply more accurate maps will help.

Nokia don't have perfect worldwide coverage though, they have nothing in Japan aside from outlines. (understandable as Nokia have zero market presence or ambition in Japan, but no good as an acquire)

No, it doesn't! At least not better then Google. For example streets marked in Doha, Qatar's capital, are totally outdated in Nokia maps - years old and inconsistent even with their own satellite view: <a href="http://maps.nokia.com/25.2835829,51.5508221,18,0,0,hybrid.day" rel="nofollow">http://maps.nokia.com/25.2835829,51.5508221,18,0,0,hybrid.da...</a>

<a href="http://maps.nokia.com/3D/" rel="nofollow">http://maps.nokia.com/3D/</a>

I wonder if Apple has lost more value from the map debacle than Nokia's entire marketcap. Apple's stock is down ~25-30B dollars since the the iphone 5 came out, and Nokia is worth 10B.

Nokia sounds like it has great maps, also LOVE the layout of m.theatlantic.com. First article in a long time I could actually look at without feeling like I have ADHD. I'm going to start trying to add a m. in front of domains I read!

Maybe better maps, but no street view, which is kind of a deal breaker for me as an "urban pedestrian".

the problem with nokia is not it software. The maps are good and other software too. BUT smartphones are about the OS these days! and Symbian(i loved the old s60 version on my ngage) is dead... and windows mobile dont got the big thirdparty app market like android and ios got!<p>Yeah nokia has great maps but its like with Opera: "Opera the worlds best browser that no one uses"

Depends on where you live - around Washington DC, it's Google Maps, OpenStreetMaps, Apple (at some distance below) and then a huge gap before Bing, Nokia and MapQuest round out the low end of the results.<p>I rather strongly suspect that the main consequences of Apple's move will be fragmentation as people adapt to the service which offers the best local coverage for them

Here's the non-mobile link -&#62; <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/10/the-forgotten-mapmaker-nokia-has-better-maps-than-apple-and-maybe-even-google/263150/" rel="nofollow">http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/10/the-fo...</a>

I'm disappointed to see that the earth maps from Google and Nokia of my town are three years old. I saw the copyright 2012 and had heard they'd been updated through a Google posting a few weeks ago. But checking a few new construction developments, which cars are in my parents' &#38; their neighbours driveways and its no later than June 2009.

If Nokia has (supposedly) better map data than Google, how much money could be made by licensing that data?<p>Alternatively, how much could be made by creating a map application for the major mobile platforms, and sell it to the consumer direct? (bundled free with Windows Phone, no doubt) Probably not as much as a licensing deal, but still no small amount.

Nokia finger race: <a href="http://vimeo.com/28240021" rel="nofollow">http://vimeo.com/28240021</a>

According to Ars, it's not, and Bing Maps seems to be the worst of the bunch:<p><a href="http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/10/replacing-ios-6-maps-hands-on-with-mapquest-bing-waze-google-nokia/" rel="nofollow">http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/10/replacing-ios-6-maps-ha...</a>

I'm curious as to how they found my exact address when I turned on the locator feature. Also, I wonder why Canada is not listed as a country for terms of use. Perhaps because the 3d features are not available here?...

Because they own Navteq

Are they stealth or something 'cause I've certainly never seen them

Google should buy Nokia then, for it's maps.

The internet has a short attention span, I guess. Nokia bought NAVTEQ for 8 billion dollars back in 2007. They sure ought to have good maps, after that!<p>NAVTEQ might be receiving map data from many commercial fleets of trucks, but Google is receiving map data from anyone with an Android phone. I think GOOG has this one covered.<p>When Nokia finishes its slow motion car crash, and they start auctioning off the company's assets, they will easily find a willing buyer for NAVTEQ. Both Apple and Microsoft will probably be interested. I don't know if it will command 8 billion next time around, but it will definitely be worth something (unless they make the mistake of mismanaging it into the ground before the end arrives.)