Nokia has just taken a big step forward with its Ovi Maps. Instead of going the obvious way of adding a Google-type Street View to its service that other similar kinds of mapping services have done, Nokia has added 3D aerial view to it maps. This enables anyone to go about a certain cities and fly around and see what the cities have to offer. It has to be said that 3D in this way is more picturesque and for sure something different to the more traditional “Street View”.
Ovi Maps 3D from Nokia comes in collaboration with Navteq’s Maps, giving its countless users access to a 3D view of cities across the globe. Zoom in, explore, be close to destinations in a better way, experiencing your city exploration more interactively.
I haven’t used Ovi Maps, simply for the fact I haven’t quite liked using Nokia Maps at all, but playing around with the beta of Ovi Maps 3D – I am beginning to like it. It sort of stitches the Street View with Google Earth in a slightly more navigable way. Although the “street view” isn’t as crisp in Ovi Maps as perhaps in other services, one has to remember that other services rarely have a view that Nokia’s offering.
Ovi Maps 3D will have a tough time registering itself as a default map service at large. However, if Nokia and Microsoft partnership turns out successful, we can anticipate something substantial happening for Ovi Maps. Seconding that, the 3D maps coming to Nokia devices would be of additional value and definitely further add to the wow-effect.
You can install the plugin from Ovi Maps and browse through a few cities in 3D on your browser. Following is the 3D view of the Golden Gate Bridge:
