Last night was the first time I drive in Amman with a GPS map in my car! Yipee!

In the end, it was Google who were first in providing this experience. As I mentioned in a previous post, Google Maps has, for the past few months, included a Amman map with main street names in Arabic (although it is really broken Arabic) on their desktop edition. The mobile edition always showed only national highways and no city streets.

Now that more detailed map shows up on mobiles.

So how was the experience. Pretty lousy actually.

First of all, the map image was being downloaded through and EDGE/GPRS connection. Which meant it was pixilized at certain times and could not keep up with the car.

The maps that come with Nokia phones under Nokias Map application are preloaded on the device. I tried them in Dubai, Doha, Abu Dhabi and Riyadh and they where great (especially that they had restaurants, gas stations, monuments and other points of interest). The Google map is far inferior to that.

But until the Nokia map for Amman comes out, I’ll probably use the Google map for a couple of times, in the case I get lost in one of the new neighborhoods or just to experiment.

This GPS/Mapping story in Jordan is turning into a really painful one!

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7 responses to “Amman’s Google map now appears on mobiles!”

  1. Samar Hijjawi Avatar
    Samar Hijjawi

    and you’ll end up paying plenty end of the month if you kept using edge/gprs.

  2. Mohd Avatar
    Mohd

    Yeah google maps are internet based not preloaded , and if a person uses it for long distances it will be expensive, (GPRS) isn’t cheap :-)

  3. ameen Avatar
    ameen

    I used Google Maps on a mobile phone in both Cairo and Berlin and I was more than satisfied with the result (and it was using GPRS not 3G).

    My question to you Ahmad is, why do you need to navigate the streets of Amman using a map? :)

  4. Kman Avatar
    Kman

    I wonder what’s happening with InsideJo.com. Thought they were supposed to have released their GPS devices by now. God knows whats keeping them.

  5. Saber El Masry Avatar
    Saber El Masry

    I navigated thru Amman streets this summer using a small netbook with Google earth offline with Goops (a free plug in that drives google earth so you can plan your route or at least you know where you are. It is excellent.

  6. Yanal Avatar
    Yanal

    Guys, they’re already a few applications for Nokia phones(Symbian) that allows you to enjoy full satellite navigation in Jordan. GarminXT is one of them. https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=11413

    Garmin just developed a map for Jordan that is compatible with their devices. Here is the link if you’re interested : https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=36243&locale=en_EN#featureTab .

    And if you’re into piracy, you could get all these stuff for free. I just tried Garmin using the cracked version(really sorry for that). Now I’ll pay for the full version. It’s always good to support the developers.

    In terms of map quality, Garmin’s is fine in my opinion. Another alternative though(one that is better than Garmin), is Nokia’s “Maps” software. GPS and satellite features are fully functional, though the map they developed for Jordan is very limited in details so you can probably guess it is not a “navigable city” yet. I talked to a Nokia employee recently on Nokia discussions and he informed me that the “Nokia Maps” team are working on a newer version of the Jordan map which is going to bring the map to a quality identical to the ones that Navteq develop( You can check them out here if you wish http://www.navteq.com/). Now the maps developed by Navteq are excellent, no doubt in my mind about that.

    So for now, if you own a Nokia phone and you’re looking for navigation solutions, there are GarminXT and Nokia’s “maps” . For Nokia’s maps software, you’ll need to wait a few weeks before the Nokia maps team finishes working on Jordan’s candy :p . As for GarminXT, it’s fully working and navigation is excellent as I tried it myself. It took me from Shemesani to the City Mall with high precision in terms of distances and turns. I would really be lost without it.

    My recommendation for anyone interested : You should WAIT a couple of weeks for the Nokia maps team to develop Jordan’s, it probably would be better than Garmin.

    Head here if you want to see the thread on Nokia discussions about Jordan’s map : http://discussions.europe.nokia.com/discussions/board/message?board.id=navigation&thread.id=14691 .

    Okay my fellow Jordanians, that’s it. Sorry for the long post, I just hope this was a bit helpful for anyone looking at the available GPS solutions in Jordan.

  7. Yanal Avatar
    Yanal

    And people if any of you decides to get GarminXT, don’t forget to put the route to the “Shortest” option as other options will lead you to much longer roads and you will probably be less than satisfied. Garmin is great, it leads you in every step like “in 200m there is a round, go left then stay on the right lane then go right”, something like this. It keeps reminding you also. When you’re close to the turn, it tells you to go in it one more time.