Ovi Maps? Is Anyone Actually Implementing This Thing?

So a week doesn’t go by where I don’t see some news about Ovi Maps.

The new, improved Ovi Maps will offer, live traffic flow information, a new drive assist mode, public transportation maps, a redesigned places page, and social check-ins. The public transportation maps will be available via a map layer for over 80 cities around the world and check-ins will allow you to broadcast your location via SMS or to your social network of choice.

OK, so does anyone actually use Ovi Maps on purpose?  I mean MapQuest learned how to fit in with the new world order, but Nokia seems to still think we are all ready to jump on their platform.  Part of why Where 2.0 doesn’t interest me anymore is they keep getting up there pushing this platform like it is viable or something.  But hey I doesn’t matter right?  Name one product of value that ever launched at Where 2.0?  [editor’s note: I must remind Mr. Fee that his passion launched at Where 2.0]

I wonder where Ovi Maps is?  At least Nokia is consuming their own dogfood.

The Need of a Good Basemap

I found this blog post on basemaps over at the 41Latitude blog (if you aren’t following this blog you need to start right now) to resonate with me.

perhaps, in trying to make a basemap that’s optimized for everything, we’re actually creating one that’s optimized for nothing.

We all see it quite a bit these days.  Some data overlaid on a default Google Map and you can’t read a darn thing.  Working for the GNOCDC, we picked the Terrain map as our basemap (even though there is no “terrain” in NOLA) because it was the least cluttered basemap.

gnocdc-terrain.jpg

Over in the ESRI world, I’ve had a couple people ask me to put their data on the Esri Topographic web map servicebecause it looks so good.  Now I do agree, it is a beautiful basemap, but it isn’t one that lends itself to being a basemap.  Esri should be offering a muted basemap and allow for the most important part of the data, the information being overlaid, to stand out.