Pedestrians can use their mobiles to navigate their way around with Nokia’s Maps 2.0.

Nokia has announced its updated mobile navigation tool at the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona – Maps 2.0.

The mobile application allows a person to use their phone to navigate to a location, with real-time walking directions, just like a satellite navigation system in a car.

President and CEO of Nokia, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, said: “Nokia is taking navigation services out of the car so it can always be with you. Struggling with oversized paper maps will become a thing of the past.”

Nokia’s Maps 2.0, for its Series 60 and 40 phones, takes mapping and navigation experiences to the next level by enhancing pedestrian navigation, adding multimedia city guides, offering satellite images, and sporting a redesigned user interface.

The new version introduces Walk, which efficiently walks you from A to B with visual turn-by-turn guidance. It helps you to locate yourself by giving information about the surrounding buildings, streets and parks (including pathways through the park) and in newer handsets, like the Nokia 6210 Navigator, points the direction in which you are walking – using the handset’s built in compass for orientation.

“By taking navigation services out of the car and onto the sidewalk, Nokia is enabling people to explore and discover what’s around them with the confidence of a local,” said Michael Halbherr, Vice President, Nokia location based services.

“By combining the integrated compass of the Nokia 6210 Navigator, with the speed and accuracy of assisted GPS, Nokia Maps 2.0 provides a unique experience with which other less accurate mobile navigation applications can’t compete.”
Nokia expects to sell 35 million mobile phones equipped with GPS (Global Positioning System) in 2008.

For more information, visit: http://www.nokia.com/betalabs/maps