While in London I was able to walk around and discover the city without holding a large map and looking like a tourist because of a simple software I was able to get for my phone called A-Z London Maps. I don’t think I would have been able to enjoy my stay without this incredibly easy to use and practical software.
You don’t need a GPS device and you don’t need to connect to the internet to be able to use the map, the software installs everything onto your phone. To use the software all you need to do is type the name of the street you are in and the software will show you on a detailed map where you are. This helped me a lot since if I needed to find my way back to the hotel I would just check on the map to see where I was and then plan my route. Also if I found a street I liked I could easily find my way back. If I was using a regular paper map it would have taken me ages to find my location on it but with A-Z maps I just type my street and the software instantly circles my location on the map.
There are maps for London, Paris, Dubai, Barcelona, Helsinki and more but they only work on some Nokia and Sony Ericsson phones. You don’t need to buy it to try it either, you can download the map and try it out for 30 days before you decide to purchase it.
I only found 2 problems with the software or should I say there are 2 things I would have liked the software to do. The first is the option to work with a GPS device. Although every street corner in London displayed the street name it would have been more practical if the software automatically recognized where I was. The second thing I would have liked would have been the option to search for shop names and then have the software find it for me on the map. Of course thats asking for to much but still, it would have been nice to have.
Final score is a 4 out of 5. If you are interested in the maps you can check out the Lumisoft website for more details and trial downloads. [Link]
5 replies on “Review: A-Z Maps”
I’ve been interested in phone integrated map localization software myself lately. My favorite two applications for Symbian phones have to be Route 66 and the Nokia Maps application.
I don’t think there’s a trial version of Route 66, but if you “look” around the internet, I’m sure you’ll find a “Way” to test it out. Nokia Maps is freeware and so are the Maps it comes with, so you can get that from Nokia.com
The applications preform almost flawlessly. The only bad side of it all is that practicality suffers. For example the phone I was using, Nokia N73, had a relatively small screen compared to the regular 3.5″ or 4.3″ touchscreen found in dedicated GPS devices. It functioned, but something else would’ve been more practical.
There could’ve been a lot more POIs, but that’s probably because we’re in the ME region. I’m sure the European/American maps come a little more detailed.
Both devices have support for GPS localization via Bluetooth GPS device, and both have voice and arrow navigation (voice navigation on Nokia Maps is a premium service).
LOL, You still looked like a tourist.
the maps for dubai are “comming soon”
just get an n95 it has all that and a built in gps reciver i used it in London and it gave me turn by turn guide to any place while i was walking without the hassle of figuring out where are you are now in on the map.