Nokia announced Nokia Maps 2.0

Nokia today announced the availability of Beta version of its new Nokia Maps 2.0 software. The enhancements are numerous and include pedestrian navigation, adding multimedia city guides, satellite images and new user interface.

New is the Walk mode, which will guide you from point A to point B and includes visual turn-by-turn guidance. It helps you to locate yourself by giving information about the surrounding buildings, streets and parks (including pathways through the park) and in newer handsets, like the Nokia 6210 Navigator, points the direction in which you are walking; using the handset’s built in compass for orientation.

The second new feature is the optional (paid) multimedia guides that feature photos, videos and audio streams. Another new option are real-time traffic feeds (paid) with dynamic re-routing in 18 European countries. So for example if you get stuck into a traffic jam, the software will simply choose another route which is not congested.

Nokia Maps 2.0 can also lead you to the nearest transit station using localized icons in 17 cities so you can hop on the Metro to get across town. And while sitting in the Metro (or anywhere else), explore new places using the hybrid satellite views.

Lastly, for all Series 40 using, Nokia Maps will soon be available for your device as well! The company is planning this to happen during the 1st half of 2008!

To test the new version of Nokia Maps, go to http://www.nokia.com/betalabs and download the Beta. The final version is expected to become available in Q2.

Another announcement which Nokia made today is about Share on Ovi - a new free personal media sharing community. Share on Ovi offers a community where consumers can socialize, interact and collaborate and is designed for more than 100 different media types with unlimited storage and unlimited monthly uploads bandwidth per month. To sign up for an account, consumers should visit http://share.ovi.com.