Henri Bergius has the info on how to run OpenStreetMap on for mapping on your Nokia N800. In fact, it’s incredibly simple. Using MaemoMapper, just add http://tile.openstreetmap.org/%0d/%d/%d.png. to your Map repositories.

This is nice in a couple of ways. First, MaemoMapper, and the underlying Maemo, are open-source applications. So it’s nice to use open geodata. Second, using and caching Googlemap/Yahoo/et al. tiles is probably a violation of their Terms of Service, especially when you use them for realtime navigation. By using OpenStreetMap as the default mapping tile provider, MaemoMapper now provides a base functionality that is free for stringy ToS that could get it into trouble and question its existence.

Based on Allan Doyle’s thoughts on using Maemo Mapper, I was finally inspired enough to figure out how to setup and use Maemo Mapper for the Nokia 770.

Maemo Mapper is a Maemo-specific mapping program that replaced GPSDrive after it kind of sputtered out on being ported to the Nokia 770 platform.

Installing & Setting up

Obviously, you’ll first need a Nokia 770 to start. I would also recommend getting a larger MMC card (1GB or 2GB) to store the cached maps and GPX files. A GPS unit is optional.

It is possible to grab map tiles as you move. This is a good option if you will have a broadband connection, either before hand to “pre-walk” your trip and download tiles, or a mobile data connection. More than likely though, you won’t have a data connection everywhere, and it would really be unfortunate to be missing maps just as you get to an area without data – I would assume that will be just when you need the map.

There is a very nice program called WinMapper that you can use to download specified areas and store the tiles in proper cache directory that Maemo Mapper can use. One thing to be aware of, for zoom levels of 0,2,4 (street-level) there will be thousands of files for relatively small areas, which will take quite a long time to transfer to the memory card. It’s probably useful to grab levels 10,8,6 of most of the area you’ll be traveling, and then 2,4 for very specific small regions.

Alternatively, Maemo Mapper now has the ability itself to download large regions of tiles. In “Manage Maps…” you can grab all the tiles for various zoom levels on the currently viewed region. This way you can download the tiles directly to your memory card cache.

Maemo Mapper is available via a repository, so open the “Tools” -> “Application Manager”, and add the following repository to your list:

Web location: http://repository.maemo.org/contrib/
Distribution: 2.0
Components: free

update your list, and then install Maemo Mapper.

After you open the app for the first time, bring up the menu, and choose “Maps” -> “Manage Repositories”. I created a “New” profile for GoogleMaps, and used the following URI:


http://mt.google.com/mt?n=404&v=w2.29&x=%d&y=%d&zoom=%d


You can also put the same URL in WinMapper. Select the extents that you want (use GoogleEarth, or Mapufacture), and the zoom levels (0 is zoomed in, 16 is world view) – 6, 8, 10 is probably a good start. Select “Region” and “Street” and press “Download”. It will take awhile, depending on the area you are downloading, so let it go on its way.

If you want satellite imagery, the URL string is:

http://kh.google.com/kh?n=404&v=10&t=%s


It’s useful to make at least 2 caches, one for street and one for satellite imagery. You can then navigate and zoom on the street view – then switch to the satellite imagery at the same location.

Also, Niko Kotilainen has instructions and a python server for making a Hybrid Map service. It would also be great to cache OpenStreetMap tiles for that extra-special open-goodness taste.

My POI

Maemo Mapper stores all of it’s data in GPX format, so you can save tracks for easy output and storage. Also, you can load sets of waypoints on your own for various POI.

Alas fair Pacific

Maemo Mapper doesn’t want to cross the International Dateline. This makes it annoying for getting down to New Zealand since you have to push up against the side of the Dateline, zoom, pan back over, zoom, and keep doing this. A small usability shortcoming that isn’t apparent until you’re in NZ, or trying to cross the Bering Straight.

Resources

For more information on Maemo Mapper add-ons and utilities check out the
Maemo-mapper related stuff on Internet Tablet Talk

On Wednesday at the SouthEast Michigan Ruby Brigade I gave a ‘lightning talk’ on Ruby & Hardware. It is a quick succession of slides (written using S5) on some of the cool hardware devices you can control with Ruby, or hardware you can control your computer with.

It has includes examples and links to using Ruby with:

• NabazTag
• Symbian Mobile Phones
• Nokia 770
• Roomba vacuum cleaners
• Apple Remotes (the kind you get with your MacBook/MacMini)
• SlimDevices SqueezeBox and SlimServer
• Lego Mindstorms NXT

There are definitely more devices out there that can or should work with Ruby. Given ruby-serialport it’s possible to control just about anything.

I missed it, but recently Navicore released the Nokia 770 Navigation Kit. You can see the press release. The system is being sold through Nokia’s site, but was

Here is a full rundown of the features and there is a good good review at pycage.

I think it looks really interesting, especially the idea of not having to carry “yet another gadget”. It supports downloading traffic and weather info over a GPRS connection. But as Pycage mentions, the prices is a little high – 200 Euro for just the Nav upgrade. And it’s also Europe only at the moment, not so useful in the US or when traveling to New Zealand.

Maemo Mapper by comparison is free, and hackable. It just doesn’t come preloaded with maps or quite as many features.

Mobile GIS is becoming more interesting and easy to get into. Yesterday Navicore released their navigation software for the Nokia 770.

Maemo Mapper is a free and open-source mapping application, designed from the ground-up for the Nokia 770. However, a large caveat is that it uses GoogleMaps in what is probably a violation of the terms of service (realtime navigation and downloading), not to mention annoying in that you have to “pre-drive” your route to cache the appropriate GoogleMap tiles.

GPSDrive now supports OpenStreetMap for downloading free maps.

I’ve gotten slightly involved in the new GeoClue project – an effort to provide an easy “location service” backend for devices. The location on the device may be served up by GPS, WiFi, GeoIP, Mobile Cell/GSM, or even just the user clicking on a map or entering an address. Then, an application can subscribe to the location service and get updated with the current location of the user/device and use it as appropriate.

At FOSS4G I attended a BOF (Birds of a Feather – people interested in the same stuff) on Mobile GIS. The software and technology all exist, it just needs some coordinated efforts to define the use cases, interfaces, and approaches. However, one solution won’t fit everyone. There are users who want to do “real GIS” in the field and there are users who want to do “neogeography” to say, find the nearest coffee shop on their mobile.