Nokia OVI maps works just as well without a connection. Not only the maps but also the points of interest are pre-loaded, with maps for just about every country in the world available. When I was abroad, heading to the airport recently I needed to find a petrol station urgently. After a frustrating 25 minutes driving around a town trying to find one I tried searching in OVI maps on my disconected Nokia for a petrol station. I had never used the feature before and assumed that it would require me to go online to search, but it didn’t. Up came up with a list of a dozen petrol stations in order of distance. I clicked on the nearest, selected ‘drive to…’ and I was there in 1 minute. The first station was shut for refilling, so I chose the next and was there in a couple more minutes. I made it to the airport with not much time to spare. All without paying a penny for roaming data. IMO Nokia’s OVI maps is brilliant!

If Google Maps nav works on the Nokia 5800 I’ll give it a try out of interest. The comparison will be interesting, but I doubt it will replace OVI maps on my phone, maybe on my daughter’s Samsung.

They have just mapped the entire country with streetview, so probably have done their own mapping.

Can’t wait to try, but the 2.1 rom on my Hero is playing up :(