Nokia's just unveiled an interesting add-on to both its Ovi suite of multimedia services and its very capable Maps navigation app called "Maps on Ovi" (naturally). Perhaps sensing the trend toward connected, social navigation devices and services, Maps on Ovi allows users of Nokia Maps to sync routes both to and from devices, ultimately sharing planned and traveled trips online with other Ovi users. Seeing how waypoint searching and routing is something you probably don't want to do exclusively on your phone, the program sounds like a pretty brilliant idea from that aspect alone, and tying in the sharing capability is just icing on the cake. The tentative plan is to have a build ready for public use this summer; S60 devices (read: Nokia Maps clients) will be the first to benefit, but it sounds like Nokia wants to expand it to other platforms in the future.

Though the refresh late last year was a welcome bonus, Nokia's Maps app that gets bundled with many of its S60 devices still lags Google Maps for Mobile in several key areas -- real-time traffic and satellite view, just to name a couple. Great news, though: Nokia's been hard at work crafting its next-gen navigation client, and it looks like it's shaping up to be a real gem. The software has been seeded to a few key folks in the public domain (but isn't yet available for download to the masses) so we're starting to see some first impressions trickle in, and in short, it looks like everything's better than it was before. The auto navigation screen is clearer and uses translucency to prevent large swaths of the map from being concealed, there's a new pedestrian mode, and satellite views and traffic data are now both available. There's no word yet on when the beta or the final version might go public, so we'll all have to be satisfied with the previews for the time being.

Following its February launch alongside the original N95, Nokia has now rolled out the "next phase" of its Maps navigation software as a free download available immediately. The new version seems to center around customer-requested improvements, including a new data counter, revamped user interface, improved search capabilities, and client software capable of transferring maps ten times as quickly as the original. Nokia is also taking the remainder of 2007 to update its coverage, eventually offering over 150 countries' worth of maps with 50 of them enabled for navigation. The service isn't free, but the download'll buy ya a three-day trial -- so if you've got a device on the compatibility list, check it out.

Read - Press release
Read - Nokia Maps

When we first learned of Nokia's pending Smart2Go mobile mapping program, we were quite enthused. That is to say, Nokia wanted to follow the business model of giving certain mobile users a taste of mobile phone-based navigation (for free) but having available a turn-by-turn satellite navigation option (for a fee). Well, Nokia has now made its Smart2Go navigation software -- with downloadable maps from TeleNav and Navteq as well -- freely available as of tomorrow morning, and surely we'll see customers from all 150 countries that Smart2Go contains maps for start flooding Nokia's special download website to get the app right onto their phones. In the process, maybe Nokia's servers will get flooded and bring the entire system down. Ok, there's a little dramatic license there. But seriously, if you want to get this new app onto your Symbian or WM5 device -- yes, it'll eventually be available for both platforms -- get in virtual line for www.smart2go.com tomorrow and get your download on.