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.

Tags: nokia, n800, maemomapper, openstreetmap, osm, henribergius, geo, mapping, maps, opensource

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

Tags: nokia770, maemo, maemomapper, winmapper, geo, mapping, gps, maps

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.

Tags: ruby, programming, roomba, nabaztag, symbian, nokia770, apple, squeezebox, slimserver, slimdevices, brigade, rubymi, rubybrigade

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.

Tags: nokia770, nokia, navicore, gps, geo, navigation, mobile, gadgets, gadget

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.

Tags: neogeography, mobile, gis, mobilegis, nokia770, geoclue, maemomapper, gpsdrive, openstreetmap, navicore, maps, geo

It is a full-featured GPRS/GSM phone:

• dual-core 312MHz XScale processor
• 64MB Ram, and a mini-SD flash slot
• 1.3 megapixel camera
• Bluetooth
• WiFi networking

Looking at the success Nokia has had with exposing various developer interfaces to their mobile phones and N770 tablet (Maemo), I think there is a huge market for an “openphone”. When I first heard of the O’Reilly Telephony Conference, I pictured people sitting around with their antiquated telephones, talking about switchboards and the like. I guess it’s a lot cooler scene than that.

Additionally, hopefully Open-hardware like mobile phones and tablets will kick the closed-minded carriers into realizing they’re slowly strangling themselves by keeping everything closed and begin to work with the huge, untapped, hobbyist and developer community.

Tags: mobile, phone, gsm, gprs, trolltech, qtopia, nokia, n770, maemo, pys60,

Technorati Tags: nokia770, gps, gpsd, maemo

Of course, I haven’t quite figured out what to do with Ruby on the Nokia 770, but its just one of those “oh, cool” things that’s worth installing and marveling at how easy it is to get programming when you don’t have to worry about binaries, libraries, compiler options, et al.

Rapid development of tools and applications with interpreted languages like Python or Ruby allows developers to get ideas and useful programs out instead of just giving up halfway. Furthermore, it’s much easier to develop in a non-embedded environment or even on the device itself. This is why the Python for Series 60 phones and other devices has been widely embraced.

Let me preface my comments by saying the Nokia 770 is an awesome device. If you have the means, and the desire to be semi-cutting edge and have an incredibly useful gadget, but don’t mind when your browser crashes, get the 770. If you like your gadgets with lots of manuals, and complete and easy to use out of the box, wait until at least rev 2. The comments below are more of a feedback on small nitpicks that I’d like to see addressed in the device in the future.

Hardware

The device feels good in the hand. At least, if you’re right-handed and hold the device in your left-hand. If you’re left-handed, things are a little more awkward. (I say a mod to flip the screen around for lefties – but lost it). This would be difficult to easily resolve, as the sidebar of buttons for pressing while using the stylus is a good one, it just doesn’t work as well for about 23% of the population (and what seems like a much larger proportion of the geek population). The 770 also feels better with the slide-on cover fully off.

I have a Nokia phone, and so was hopeful that I wouldn’t have to carry another charger around with me. Nope, no luck, different plug end. I haven’t checked the electrical specs, but I really appreciate it when manufacturers use the same plug in their various devices. To me, it’s a sort of brand loyalty when thinking about having to pack my bags and various cables/plugs.

There has been a very good point that the slide-on cover blocks removing the stylus. This is easily remedied, but should have been caught in prototyping fairly apparently.

The Nokia 770 comes with a little stand. This thing is not much more than a couple of interlocked sticks that prop up the device. Granted, nice touch to include a stand, but it could have been a little better by cupping the device (it just kind of props in there) and make the angle adjustable.

Software

This is the first sign that the Nokia 770 isn’t ready for the consumer market. The device comes with: News, Mail, Web, Notes, Sketch, 2 games, Music, Video. Now, I know this covers 80% of what 70% of the computer users out there do, but it doesn’t fully display the capability of the device, or the ‘glam’ factor that sells so well. There is the ever-growing application catalog, but the actual links take you to personal developer’s sites and often require several dependencies for setting up.

Personally, I’m thrilled. There are very apparent holes in software that are waiting to be filled by developers and power-users. But I don’t expect the average consumer to be excited (or even know how to) to troll the web for a calendar, download a .deb package, move it to the card and then install it. These are people that get confused by 1-click ordering on the iTunes store. They are lovable, and great, but just don’t expect them to “check their dependencies” (to quote the oft mentioned mac-user repair-all)

Inputting data into the device is relatively painless, if not easy. By default, when you click to enter text into a textbox, a keyboard appears. I’ve gotten probably up to about 15 wpm or so, but it’s very intensive clicking. There is handwriting recognition, but I’m a long-time Palm, and PocketPC block recognition user, and they’re great. The Nokia handwriting recognition is very difficult. It tries too hard to attempt to recognize upper- and lower-case, symbols, and numbers all in the same writing area without modes. Use what works, and that’s the Block Recognition style.

Even in keyboard mode, the device will by default provide you with “completion” options as you type out a word (the fact that the completion options dynamically take up the ’spacebar’ has cause me many a pain). The built-in dictionary is fairly good, multilingual, and learns, but the initial responses to typed in characters is sometimes completely baffling. Take, for example, my attempt to type in “myself”, I was presented with the following options:

 my | nachlog-ddu | self | algia

Maybe I didn’t learn this in school, but what do mynachlog-ddu or myalgia mean?

Update:I didn’t learn it in school, because I didn’t go to med school. Myalgia: Pain in a muscle; or pain in multiple muscles.

Miscellaneous

A couple of miscellaneous items.

1. You should be able to customize your “widgets” (top), application menu, and your icons on the left-hand side (without resorting to editing text files)
2. More desktop web shortcuts, and be able to layout the desktop items
3. Logging application, ala Mac OS X’s Console, for us developers when applications crash (which they do)

Note: the Nokia 770 looks great with several of my projects.

Essential resources

If you did get the Nokia 770, the following are what I suggest are the essential modifications and software that you’ll want to get in order to start fulling using the device.

Allowing Root

Necessary Applications

• FBReader – text reader – needs bookmarking and highlighting (or get Plucker)
• Bluetooth OBEX Stack – allows bluetooth transfer of files with the desktop
• XTerm – for your terminal interface
• OpenSSH – allows connecting via a terminal on your desktop
• Vim – editing files on the Nokia 770

Good Additional Applications

• LoadApplet – a small widget to show CPU/Memory and take screenshots
• PyMaemo – python for Maemo
• ScummVM

ThoughtFix has a plea to Nokia to provide a mapping application for their Nokia 770, and points out the (hereforeto unbeknownst to me) Route66 Mobile which can run on my Nokia 6600. I already have a BlueLogger GPS, so the $300 price-tag including GPS unit is a bit steep, though the package does include lots of goodies (RS-MMC memory card, card reader, GPS unit car charger, phone car mount).

What would be great, however, would be able to use the map files included with Route66, or Delorme Handheld StreetAtlas, or any other maps meant for a mobile platform (small resolution, small file size). Then developers could provide additional solutions and add-ons via their favorite programming medium. The high-cost of map delivery really precludes innovative, market-risky application development.