[perspicatio]

I don't know about the SIM issue being discussed here (mine works fine sans-sim, locating in seconds) but the offline navigation is a real bugbear.

Offline the navigation function is rendered virtually unusable. Maps are downloadable but address/street information (required for turn-by-turn navigation) requires you to go online to plot. Fine for Wi-Fi but if you are roaming abroad there are data cost issues. Worse, if you are trying to navigate from a location with no cellular coverage you cannot plot a route. You are stuffed.

This is a real problem Nokia needs to address. Data size is not really any excuse.

Nokia Drive is not a TRULY offline GPS like TomTom

.

[bharathsekar]

I am not sure about the issue u're facing (maybe it happens only when on International roaming). OFFLINE SEARCH works absolutely fine for me. All I had to do was search for "Walmart" or an address, say "123 3rd avenue, new york" and it would prompt a message saying "No, connection" and when I proceed with "Search Offline", it would display the directions just like a regular GPS would do.

Maybe it won't have all of the POI that come pre-loaded with TomTom like GPS, but it definitely has most of them. I am on a 200 Mb data plan and so keep the LTE turned off most of the times. With my maps pre-downloaded from WiFi, I NEVER had to turn it on my data for POI/address lookup.

[perspicatio]

It does appear to have some random offline data. But I can't fathom it.

Doing a search for "Piccadilly Circus" in London (a major thoroughfare) it bizarrely wants to take you to "Circus Street" in Manchester (other end of the country). Other major streets it either returns no results or takes a random stab at a minor town. You could end up in Timbuktoo.

It has been noted elsewhere. Nokia Drive review | PC Pro

Online, BINGO! Works like a charm.

[Huime]

It does appear to have some random offline data. But I can't fathom it.

Doing a search for "Piccadilly Circus" in London (a major thoroughfare) it bizarrely wants to take you to "Circus Street" in Manchester (other end of the country). Other major streets it either returns no results or takes a random stab at a minor town. You could end up in Timbuktoo.


Online, BINGO! Works like a charm.

No idea how you are using it. But this statement is all wrong: Nokia Drive is not a TRULY offline GPS like TomTom
and that reviewer too have no idea what he is writing about.

[perspicatio]

Huime, if you could point out exactly how to make Nokia Drive work offline I, would be most grateful as I'm sure others would be.

I have downloaded the UK map. Some test searches of major London streets:

Fleet Street -- it assumes I want to go to Aylesbury
Strand -- several random towns including some in Ireland!
Aldwych -- Nothing
Charring Cross Road -- Nothing
Marylebone -- finds it, but strangely navigates to a neighboring minor street
Gunnersbury Avenue -- Nothing

[holzlondon]

Could it be that airplane mode disables GPS too?

You might be on to something here. Airplane mode disables any kind of signal sending and receiving antennas, right? This may very well include the GPS module. Then it won't be able to lock a signal at all, and Nokia Maps and Drive won't work.

When I'm abroad, I keep my SIM card in for calls, texts, etc. but disable data. I make sure I have the local maps downloaded before I travel, because WiFi is not always reliable everywhere.

Then when I need to use the navigation, I open drive, and it finds me within 2 mins normally. Was in Dubai last week, and it worked like a charm.

[zenuser]

Wot perspacitio said

Offline it need to connect to get data. It caches some local data but don't have all data in map file. If you are in rural countryside you cant navigate if no 3g signal. Map is there but no nav data.

[Rickosw]

Hi Guys,

this is a far shot ....but does having a phone case affect the GPS reading ?

eg. even for this ultra slim case without FULL 100% phone coverage ? -ie the top & bottom are exposed

[perspicatio]

holzlondon: Flight mode does not switch off GPS. Try it.

Rickosw: my silicone cases (920 and 620) do not affect the GPS signal. I can locate within 3 seconds from inside a building.

The issue is not the GPS capability, which seems good, but the offline data capability, which is dodgy, to say the least.

Edit:
I just tried "Marble Arch" and was given "The Arches" restaurant in Letterkenny, Ireland and Mont St Michel Abbey in France. Clearly a few issues for Nokia to fix.

[alphonsohall]

Reading this thread with interest, and just to clarify.
I have the UK map downloaded on my 920.
I activated 'airplane mode' and then i opened nokia drive, my location was found within seconds (silicone phone case fitted) i then entered an address and the phone notified me that i didnt have an online connection and asked 'did i want to search offline', which i did, and the phone then found the address and plotted the route.

My 920, in my experience, has always worked exactly like my tomtom when in offline mode, including when in airplane mode, location services work exactly the same offline as when i'm online.

ps... gps (location) finds me even when i'm in a building, online or offline

[alphonsohall]

holzlondon: Flight mode does not switch off GPS. Try it.

Edit:
I just tried "Marble Arch" and was given "The Arches" restaurant in Letterkenny, Ireland and Mont St Michel Abbey in France. Clearly a few issues for Nokia to fix.

Just done the same search as above using 'offline' and got the same results but got correct results for the same search when using 'online'.

[Huime]

Huime, if you could point out exactly how to make Nokia Drive work offline I, would be most grateful as I'm sure others would be.

I have downloaded the UK map. Some test searches of major London streets:

Fleet Street -- it assumes I want to go to Aylesbury
Strand -- several random towns including some in Ireland!
Aldwych -- Nothing
Charring Cross Road -- Nothing
Marylebone -- finds it, but strangely navigates to a neighboring minor street
Gunnersbury Avenue -- Nothing

are you around these places or within 30 miles when you search them?

[alphonsohall]

Huime, if you could point out exactly how to make Nokia Drive work offline I, would be most grateful as I'm sure others would be.

I have downloaded the UK map. Some test searches of major London streets:

Fleet Street -- it assumes I want to go to Aylesbury
Strand -- several random towns including some in Ireland!
Aldwych -- Nothing
Charring Cross Road -- Nothing
Marylebone -- finds it, but strangely navigates to a neighboring minor street
Gunnersbury Avenue -- Nothing

Just tried an OFFLINE (airplane mode) search on Gunnersbury avenue and got nothing, but if i enter Gunnersbury avenue, london i get all the correct results. (I conducted this search from my location in Somerset)

[perspicatio]

are you around these places or within 30 miles when you search them?

I'm about 1 mile from Gunnersbury Avenue, a major road in West London. If I search in online mode I know it will cache local data. Which is of little use to drivers.

Nokia Drive gives results listed by distance. So if you search for "High Street" it'll listed the nearest at the top.Great for walkers, but if you "Drive" then it would be more intuitive to select the destination town first, then street. I don't think Nokia's software team that that through too well.

Edit: I take that back about listeing by proximity. It's actually more random than that. I just searched for "Oxford Street" and was given a number of random streets from around the country with those nearest Oxford at the top. Truly bizarre, and no Oxford Street in London.

[Huime]

Just tried an OFFLINE (airplane mode) search on Gunnersbury avenue and got nothing, but if i enter Gunnersbury avenue, london i get all the correct results. (I conducted this search from my location in Somerset)

I downloaded the England map ONLY. So I don't know if you have all UK and Ireland will screw things up or not.
The last snap was to show my status bars, no WiFi on.
What I did was first search UK then London to get myself near the city where these places belong. Then I just type in the name you gave. Never been to these places so you can check the address and code if they are right. As for the extra picture I have no idea why it got there.
http://sdrv.ms/WTWirt
http://sdrv.ms/WTWs24
http://sdrv.ms/WTWuqJ
http://sdrv.ms/WTWA1j
http://sdrv.ms/WTWDdx
http://sdrv.ms/WTWHdg

[perspicatio]

OK, now I'm seeing what you see. Type in the city name along with the street and you get good results offline. I just tried some obscure little streets and it found them quickly.

Thanks, Huime. You were right.

But that does rather beg the questions
- why the random results if you omit city/town?
- why does it work without city/town in online mode but not offline?

I hope Nokia intend to do a good job of educating new users to their approach, otherwise there are going to be some very irked ex TomTom users.

[Huime]

OK, now I'm seeing what you see. Type in the city name along with the street and you get good results offline. I just tried some obscure little streets and it found them quickly.

Thanks, Huime. You were right.

But that does rather beg the questions
- why the random results if you omit city/town?
- why does it work without city/town in online mode but not offline?

I hope Nokia intend to do a good job of educating new users to their approach, otherwise there are going to be some very irked ex TomTom users.

There is limitation for offline maps. Unless you want your search algorithm worth another Gigabyte like Tomtom or Garmin in the early days. What Nokia did was to minimize the requirement for crunching numbers. It only finds a name match within 30 miles or so unless you specified an area. It always been a frustration for new comers, I myself had been using ovi/nokia/here maps on mobiles for almost 4 years. And BTW, welcome to Nokia family!

[Raj Chahal]

Will again give it a try to search offline , using complete city name .... :)

[zenuser]

Yes but not explain why Nokia give crazy result offline. Sometimes hundreds km from location.

[Huime]

Yes but not explain why Nokia give crazy result offline. Sometimes hundreds km from location.

from above, did you see any of them qualified to be your crazy result?

[perspicatio]

Zenuser: I agree it is odd that Drive, in attempting to interpret a parsimonious query such as "marble arch", should direct me to an obscure town in Ireland 400 miles away when there is a perfectly good "arch" a few miles up the road. More so considering I don't even have the Ireland map installed. But when I'm out in the wilds of Galicia and need to navigate my way back to the holiday villa, I will remember and thank a true gentleman, Huime, who took the trouble to point out to a dim-witted stranger such as myself how to correctly form the destination query.

[Raj Chahal]

one more issue, please help me with this :

When I start nokia drive ( on lumia 920 ), my data connection is on, but i have turned the connection settings in drive as "Offline" , I search for the destination, drive finds the destination correctly , but i doesn ot start navigating, positions keep showing where i started from.
I have to restart the Phone, and then it works fine.

PS : the same thing happens even when i try it with drive connection settings as "online"

Please provide a suggestion so that i dont have to restart the phone everytime before using drive.

[Huime]

one more issue, please help me with this :

When I start nokia drive ( on lumia 920 ), my data connection is on, but i have turned the connection settings in drive as "Offline" , I search for the destination, drive finds the destination correctly , but i doesn ot start navigating, positions keep showing where i started from.
I have to restart the Phone, and then it works fine.

PS : the same thing happens even when i try it with drive connection settings as "online"

Please provide a suggestion so that i dont have to restart the phone everytime before using drive.

The app doesn't start right after you chose the preferred search result. There is a button below to start the navigation after you tweak some available options to optimize your route.