Navigation Tools

A key application on the internet tablets is navigation. The N900 and N810 have a built-in GPS receiver; the 770 and N800 can connect to a separate GPS receiver over bluetooth with the NMEA interface

Contents

Complete Navigation Solutions

The following applications provide GPS-based navigation and route calculation.

Stand-alone

Stand-alone navigation apps are self-contained: they can calculate routes without needing a network connection once provided with local map data.

Sygic

Links:

Pro:

  • Turn-by-turn voice instructions

Cons:

  • Commercial, proprietary, closed source
  • Some maps not available

Navit

Links:

Pro:

  • open source
  • turn-by-turn voice instructions
  • uses vector data from openstreetmaps and free garmin maps
  • 2d and 3D view option
  • touchscreen interface
  • flexible with a rich set of configuration options via an XML file
  • almost daily development releases, good progress
  • as of 2012, this is the only navigation that works without internet access, reroutes, speaks, and has a good interface with a bit effort

Con:

  • works pretty reliably but still rough around the edges
  • custom configuration requires modification of XML file in text editor
  • Little/no developer interaction via t.m.o.
  • Limited search functionality

Tips and Tricks:

  • the main communication channel for navit is on IRC. You will find the core hackers there as well as some users. See the navit Contacts page for details
  • it automatically routes if it has a gps fix and a destination. A destination can either be set by pressing on the map and selecting "set as destination" from the appearing context menu, or via the address search.
  • Easy install of latest version on N900 here Install script
  • Configuration Files for the N8x0. The files should go to /home/user/.navit and expect maps named *.bin in /media/mmc2/Navit (may be changed by editing the .xml configuration files)
  • There is a repository, see this post and this post for a nice OSD.

Gosmore

Links:

Pro:

  • uses vector data from openstreetmaps

Con:

  • Not yet stable, routing untested
  • very few releases, little development progress visible
  • map conversion from openstreetmap format to gosmore .pak format has to be done by user.
  • I did not get gpsd working.

Roadmap

Links:

Pro:

  • Open source
  • Use vector maps from OpenStreet Map
  • Rich configuration file not in XML
  • Good graphics on the tablet
  • Development of the software is active but the portage to the tablet is often two or three releases late

Con:

  • OpenStreet maps must be processed before use. There are a few procedures to do that on PC but sometimes they crash specially with big files.
  • Only one map at a time can be used
  • Project is not very active

Marble

Links:

Pro:

  • Online and offline routing (worldwide)
  • Many different map themes

Con:

  • Need space to save offline maps

Monav

Links:

Cloud-Based

Cloud-based navigation requires a network connection to calculate routes.

Ovi

Pro:

  • Free (comes pre-installed on N900)
  • Good maps

Cons:

  • Closed source
  • Clunky
  • No turn-by-turn voice instructions

Maemo Mapper (Maemo4/Diablo))

Links:

Pro:

  • Open source
  • Pretty stable application
  • Turn-by-turn voice directions
  • Works by default with openstreetmap, but can also use commercial maps
  • The maps download is convenient within maemo mapper and maps can be stored on the device. No PC required.

Con:

  • works only with pixmaps (i.e. inefficient map storage)
  • Acquiring a new route requires online connection; the connection is not needed to follow a downloaded route.

Mappero (Maemo5/Fremantle)

Mappero is the result of a further development of maemo mapper in Maemo5 (fremantle).

Links:

Pro:

  • Uses graphic acceleration of the N900
  • User interface in Maemo5 look and feel
  • Support for different configurable maps sources: OpenStreetMaps, Google, Yahoo, Virtual earth and what not.
  • Navigation: turn-by-turn voice navigation (with configurable route providers) in your own language.
  • GPS tracking
  • File import/export of GPX tracks and routes
  • POI handling

Con:

  • Same as maemo mapper

Mapper

modRana

Map Editors / Other Tools

Editors:

Map viewers:

Incomplete or Dead Navigation Applications

Roadnav

Links:

I could not get it working so far, no updates on news site since two years.

Carman

Links:

Wayfinder

  • N800 and N810 come with Wayfinder maps pre-installed. Routing/navigation is not enabled by default and requires a $99/3 years license. Map data and formats are proprietary.
  • Wayfinder is defunct

Keeping Data Costs Down (International Roaming)

Some of these tools retrieve map data on the fly, and this can be very costly if you are travelling internationally. Below, as captured from a post, are some tips that might help.

I was travelling to Seattle from London a few months back, and anticipated the same sort of data costs. I worked around it quite easily by using MaemoMapper, and using my WiFi at home to download and cache maps for the region. I did this for Google Maps, Google hybrid maps, and OpenStreetmap, giving me the ability to switch back and forth. If I remember correctly, I pulled down map zoom levels of 11 & 9 for the entire western third of Washington, levels 9 & 7 for the specific Everett - Federal Way section, and 9-7-5 from downtown out to the areas where I was going to be staying with relatives. I then added a similar detailed set data for the San Juan Islands, as I thought we might go whale watching. Downloading took a little bit of time for each set, but it didn't distract me much from the TV show I was watching at the time. Elapsed time was 1 hour or so. This was on my N810. To download maps, look for the "Manage Maps" menu.

What this gives you is *not* routing, it gives you maps. If you want routing, the data cost of going online to compute a route and then use it offline with the cached maps should be low. Since there are no voice directions, you'll have to depend on your co-pilot to read from the N900. Unless your co-pilot has higher gadget tolerance than mine, swapping driving duties might be sensible. For holidaying, I find maps from OpenStreetmap to be significantly nicer than the "just roads" focus of TomTom/Naviteq maps as the wiki-like nature of things positively encourages people to list parks, walking paths, etc. Windsor Castle and Great Park http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=51...layers=B000FTF and the alpine paths of Kandersteg Switzerland http://www.openstreetmap.org/?minlon=7.6556638&minlat=46.4775866&maxlon=7.6956638&maxlat=46.5175866 are two examples.

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