Street View on Nokia S60 and Windows Mobile? Check.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008 | 7:59 AM
(cross posted with the Google LatLong Blog)
In case you hadn't noticed, the Google Street View team has been busy photographing France, Italy, Spain, and Australia. Given the international focus of recent Street View launches, it's time we make Street View accessible on phones that are especially popular in those countries. We're excited to announce the availability of Google Maps for mobile version 2.3 with Street View on Nokia S60 and Windows Mobile. Street View was previously released on Google Maps for Android, BlackBerry, and iPhone.
Street View lets you access street level imagery to help orient yourself when looking for places, businesses, or getting directions. Say you're going to meet with friends at an unfamiliar restaurant. Now you can search for it in Google Maps for mobile, click on "Street View", and see what the place and surrounding area look like. Similarly, say you need to get to a shop in a part of town you don't know. Find it using your phone, get directions to it, and see how to get there with full-screen panorama images of every step along the way.
While Street View is not yet available everywhere, we'll continue rolling out support across other geographies in the coming months.
Check out this demo of Street View (albeit on a BlackBerry) to get an idea of how things work:
Besides Street View, the new version of Google Maps for mobile also has a bunch of other new features: request walking directions (in addition to driving and public transit) to get anywhere on foot, receive transit alerts from participating public transportation authorities, and see what other people think of a place by reading reviews directly on your phone. We've also overhauled the entire user interface to make the app more responsive and easier to use.
So if you have a Nokia S60 or Windows Mobile smartphone, go ahead and download the new version of Google Maps by visiting google.com/gmm on your phone. Enjoy the (street) view!
by Flavio Lerda, Software Engineer
Labels: google maps for mobile, Mobile Blog, nokia, s60, street view, windows mobile
25 comments:
John Sengenberger said...
December 10, 2008 at 8:32 AM
Stefan said...
Brilliant, loving it, one of my favorite S60 applications. I know I've already asked for this, but can you please get public transport information for Helsinki :-)
More importantly can you set up some sort of service where I can edit my landmarks on my computer and have them synced to my handset and visa versa?
Thanks!
SC
December 10, 2008 at 8:46 AM
Adonis said...
So is it only the countries above mentioned in addition to the previously mentioned countries that Street View is available?
Is there a list where all the countries are listed?
Great work, love the new UI screens too.
December 10, 2008 at 8:53 AM
Allen said...
Absolutely Awesome! I've been waiting for this update for a while now. I was beginning to think google was dropping support for windows mobile. Very glad to see they haven't. It was worth the wait, love the interface on this version so far. Thank you Thank you
December 10, 2008 at 9:13 AM
Unknown said...
@Adonis - the list is definitely not complete. e.g. New Zealand is also covered.
@Stefan - it's not elegant, but you can export S60 Landmarks as an LMX file, convert to KML, edit on a computer, and reserve to get back into S60. Checkout http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=lmx+kml+convert
December 10, 2008 at 10:19 AM
Jonas Alves said...
What about iPod Touch!?
December 10, 2008 at 11:33 AM
Unknown said...
Nice that it's updated for WM, but, to be honest, the previous versions looked much nicer on-screen, especially the magnify/reduce icons -- they had transparency to them that gave the app a slicker look & feel. The new ones are to prominent in comparison, and actually give the visual impression that the software is an earlier version :(
December 10, 2008 at 12:07 PM
John Sengenberger said...
Anyone know how to change the font size of search results in the WM version? Mine appears very small, almost unreadable.
December 10, 2008 at 12:18 PM
Nicolas said...
Street view DOES NOT work on my Nokia E71.
Application works perfectly otherwise.
But.. when I hit "streetview" for a street in the US where I know that there is streetview (ie. NYC or SFO for instance), the name of the street appears in the top left corner, and a small turning arrow turns and turns.. but nothing happens.
If I do it in Paris, where I know there is streetview also, no name comes up in the top left corner of the screen, but I still see the little arrow turning and turning.
Nothing else happens.. no streetview.
All the rest works.
Are other S60 3rd edition owners or E71 owners experiencing the same problems?
December 10, 2008 at 12:19 PM
Schattenwand said...
Nice! It finally looks fantastic on my N82! Really great job - GoogleMaps is one of two apps for symbian phones, that doesn't suck. (the other: T9Nav)
For me, the googleMaps team should work on the following three points:
-Make it possible to Activate (and search) PointsOfInterests which will always be shown on your map. (restaurants, banks, wikiInfos, etc.)
- a custom category POI where everyone can temporary post an event. I'm looking forward to drive through my hometown and see on the map where all the parties are. =) (or search for: "jazz, tonight" and get all the directions)
- Some sort of CarNavigation-mode with voice support! I stopped using all shitty navi apps und now I have to stare on the small screen while driving, which is dangerous.
Is there an other place to post ideas? GoogleMaps is really the best prog at the moment...
December 10, 2008 at 12:41 PM
Jason said...
Great! I've been waiting for Street View to come to Windows Mobile! And the timing is perfect: Right after the huge Street View database update which includes coverage of my town. :)
December 10, 2008 at 12:48 PM
Unknown said...
Thanks for street view on winmo, when will we see contact sync for winmo <=> gmail ?
December 10, 2008 at 1:24 PM
Unknown said...
I just tried following the link (m.google.com/gmm) for installing googlemaps on my Windows Mobile device, but alas I get a message
"Sorry, Google Maps does not work on your HTC TouchDual"
Is the windows mobile version only specific to certain models of phone?
December 10, 2008 at 1:40 PM
NZ_Rob said...
HTC Apache (WM5) had a bit of trouble with the non-digitally signed app. Eventually got working after 3x CAB downloads (glad I don't pay for data!)
Now working fine (Telecom NZ device)
December 10, 2008 at 2:46 PM
Unknown said...
ON THE SAMSUNG OMNIA IT DOES NOT ALLOW YOU TO USE NUMBERS USING THE SAMSUNG KEYBOARD. you have to switch to the windows one...
December 10, 2008 at 4:34 PM
John Cody said...
Hey Google Windows Mobile Maps group,
A sincere thanks! For modifying the CAB so that the entire app and data cache now can run from the storage card!!!
Thanks for listening to our requests :)
The new street view feature is awesome!
-John
December 10, 2008 at 4:50 PM
grodnyc said...
Using my Omnia i910 and does not allow me to use the numbers on the keyboard. It was working fine with the previous version.
December 10, 2008 at 7:21 PM
Marco said...
I get the same error as user 'motto' above. It says (in Dutch): "Sorry, Google Maps doesn't work on your HTC Touch Dual". Strange thing is this is happening on my HTC Touch HD!
Could it be that the problem is that this version isn't rolled out in The Netherlands yet?
December 11, 2008 at 3:19 AM
Jaime said...
There is no Street View option in the recently downloaded Google Maps 2.3.0.9 for my Nokia E51 looking in Madrid (Spain) :(
December 11, 2008 at 4:36 AM
RdKetchup said...
Adonis, the available streetview coverage can be seen on the map on that page:
http://maps.google.com/help/maps/streetview/
motto and Marco, are you using Opera to try to download GoogleMaps? If you do, try Internet Explorer instead, that's what I had to do on my HTC Touch Diamond.
December 12, 2008 at 7:45 AM
Jonas Alves said...
Where's Street View for iPod Touch?
December 12, 2008 at 8:26 AM
ajpd said...
dont like the latest street view version on my Nokia N95 - much preferred previous version - sorry.
Text is horibly small on results - can barely read ii.
No obvious way to escape back from results to where you were previously on the map - horible cul-de sac programming.
Backlight switches off after a while - good - but then keeps turning on for a while then off again.
Map is smaller on screen - wastes much needed space - the old version was tranparant at the bottom.
The history on the old version allowed you to call up a search result and add to it it. So if you typed in cinema and it didnt bring the result you wanted you could hit history, select cinema and add the text "London". Now, you have to retype the whole lot if the initial text enetered had a slight mistake or not enough detail
December 12, 2008 at 2:00 PM
Daniel Silva said...
Hi, thanks for this release.
But is has some problems in Samsung Omnia:
- the GPS stop working. It doesn't get a fix, but if I use another program only takes about 15 seconds.
- the "Samsung Keyboard" doesn't work.
December 24, 2008 at 12:50 PM
Martin G said...
Why does this article say it is for S60 and WM? I have street view working on my Samsung M8800 Pixon, which isn't a smartphone. I use the Java version of google maps.
BTW could you (Google) please find a way to make use of the Pixon's GPS? Out of the box it can only be used for Geotagging it seems but as it's there, maybe you can get it to be used with Google Maps.
December 30, 2008 at 3:35 AM
يحيى أحمد said...
There is no Street View option in the recently downloaded Google Maps 3.0 for my Nokia E51 :(
The feature is disappear. !!
It was in previous version 2.3
February 10, 2009 at 1:07 AM
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