An alternative to the NOKIA Maps Loader written in .NET 2.0 running under Windows and Linux

• AvMapsLoader is an alternative to the map loader application from Nokia.
• Supports NOKIA Maps Version 2 and Version 3.
• Download maps, city indexes and voices directly from the NOKIA Maps server.
• Lists and accesses all maps (older versions too) and shows you the actual map version.
• Can access the NOKIA download server via a HTTP proxy (with or without username and password).
• The program is able to merge overlapping region maps using different methods.
• Keeps a history file (XML) in the map folder of installed maps, city indexes and voices.
• Runs on Windows (with Microsoft .NET 2.0) and on Linux (with MONO)
• This program is available freely for personal, non-commercial use and comes with no warranties.

I've created a forum for discussion about errors, enhancements and general issues for my programs.

Please check out the AnVoIt Software Forum

• Why does this program use .NET?

This program is written with .NET so the same executable can run under Windows and Linux. Switching to another language would be a lot of work again.

• How does this program get the map information?

This program doesn't use the links Martin Letis discovered by monitoring the HTTP stream. This program actively talks to the Nokia Maps site and evaluates the answer from the server. In other words: there is no static data about what maps are available built into this program. All information comes from the Nokia Maps server.

• Why is it not enough to have a static web page with all the download links?

Just to write a program which uses a static table with all the download links would be quite simple. But downloading the maps is not even 50% of what this program does. I've found out that extracting the maps is much more difficult, as several maps overlaps. In order to be able to merge different maps on the memory card, you need some strategy for what files should be overwritten and what files to keep. And this is what this program gives you.

• Why does this program cannot talk to the phone over the USB or Bluetooth connection?

The reason for not being able to extract the maps to a mobile connected by USB is due to the fact that I don't know how to access the folders on the mobile over USB. If someone has an idea how to do it, please write a comment!

Using the original NOKIA Maps Loader for my NOKIA N85 mobile phone, I was quite disappointed about it's limited functionality. Therfore I searched for an alternative and while searching the Internet, I found this article written by Martin Letis where he describes a way how to download the Nokia Map files without using the NOKIA Map Loader program.

Inspired by this article I tried to understand the format of the messages that are send to and received from the Nokia Maps server and finally I succeeded, so I started to write a small program which helps me to download single map files. Then I've added feature by feature and finally I got a quite full featured alternative to the original Nokia Maps loader application.

There is no installer required, no Windows registry entries are read/written and it's just a single executable. It can be run from USB stick or even from CDROM (at least I hope so, never tried yet…. ).

Disclaimer:

This program has been built by analyzing data (unencrypted HTTP traffic) that is available to anyone. In no way has Nokia software been disassembled, reverse engineered, or extended in any way. It is not my intention to infringe any Nokia patent.

Good luck when trying this software, hope you can enjoy it. Would be nice if you leave a comment here…..

Andreas Vogel

I don't wanna charge for this program. On the other side, creating and maintaining this program took and takes time and donations are welcome.

So if you use and like this software you might wanna consider a donation.

• Release Date: 1.1.2010
• Version: 2.00
• Download: avmapsloader_2.00.zip (136.02 KiB, 382 downloads)
• Changes:
  • Supports now Nokia Maps version 2 and 3. A lot of changes and additions.

• Release Date: 26.2.2009
• Version: 1.02
• Download: avmapsloader_1.02.zip (120.14 KiB, 27 downloads)
• Changes:
  • Due to a stupid bug in the Options Dialog (the OK, Cancel Save and Load buttons were not visible) I need to publish an updated version 1.02 right now. Sorry folks for this stupid error

The program manual for the current version 2.x can be found here: AvMapsLoader Manual 2.x

The program manual for the old version 1.x can be found here: AvMapsLoader Manual 1.x

You can find here the tables with the static links to the NOKIA download server for all known versions of NOKIA Maps 2 and NOKIA Maps 3.

Static NOKIA Maps version 2 and 3 tables