Nokia says half its phones will have GPS by 2010. That is, only a year and change away. And to jazz up its customers’ GPS experience, Nokia last October shelled out a stonking $US8.1 billion to buy digital mapping company Navteq, now the supplier of its Nokia Maps service. The Chicago outfit behind Yahoo Maps, the GIS tech used by Microsoft Flight Simulator and sat-nav systems for BMW, among others, Navteq was Nokia’s largest ever acquisition, revealing the centrality of GPS to the company's future strategy.

Used in concert with a GPS-equipped Nokia phone, Nokia Maps 2.0 moves beyond the static pin-point on a Google Map feature offered by GPS handsets like the iPhone, offering turn-by-turn instructions to get you to your destination. For the past few weeks I’ve been using Nokia Maps around Auckland on a Nokia slider phone, the Navigator 6210 (on Nokia’s 3G Broadband or HSDPA network, $799 without plan).

Nokia Maps has some immediately obvious advantages over the other service available here, Vodafone’s Compass (available with the BlackBerry Curve and Pearl; review here).

1. Slick maps with multiple views. It offers a more informative, better looking scrolling maps. Unlike Compass’s 2D only view, you get a choice of 2D, an ariel 3D view (the default for Navman, TomTom et al dedicated in-car devices) or a satellite view. The latter is surprisingly snappy to load and while not really offering any extra info beyond a street map, it scores high on the cool and fascinating meter. You can also do neato mosquito stuff like saving a screen. It’s really no surprise Nokia Maps has the edge in looks and usability given the resources of the giant Navteq vs Yapp, the Aussie start-up behind Compass. It helps that the Navigator 6210’s screen is the same width but about 20% longer (thanks to its slide-down keyboard) than the BlackBerry Pearl’s.

2. Global reach: Nokia Maps, produced by Navteq and its local licensees, cover most of the globe, but with a few conspicuous absentees, like China. Compass is confined to New Zealand (surprisingly, given its origins, it doesn’t even stretch across the Tasman). See a full coverage map here. As with dedicated GPS makers, and Compass, there are no traffic info updates available for NZ (standby for developments on that front in the new year).

3. Faster GPS fix: Running on my Navigator 6210, Nokia Maps picked up a GPS fix usually in 15 to 30 seconds. By contrast, I found my BlackBerry Pearl, running Compass, can take a prohibitive 90 seconds or longer. I’m putting it down to the Navigator having been designed from the ground-up as a sat-nav phone, while Compass is a bolt-on to the BlackBerry (the 6210’s specialised design has some practical advantages, too, such as a slightly roughened rear surface designed to stop falling off your dashboard so easily – though it still needs to be properly tethered. The slider keyboard is also a boon for GPS, facilitating a bigger screen).

4. Preloaded maps: Local Maps are preloaded on the Navigator 6210’s 1GB SD Card (Compass streams data as you go). However, like Compass, I still found its positioning was not as accurate as a dedicated GPS system from Navman or TomTom et al. Again, I was sometimes told I was 200m from a turn when I was in fact on top of it. Both systems are good at rerouting if you take a wrong turn, but Nokia Maps also adds a handy – very handy for Auckland – one-click feature to gain an alternative route if the road up ahead is blocked. The voice is noteably smoother than Compass, again a result of a preload versus streaming.

5. A pole apart Nokia Maps’ sexier graphics extend to its walking function (Compass also has a pedestrian mode). Your position is displayed by a flashing red dot that moves as you do – which is very Mission Impossible – and you also get a built in compass (as in an actual magnetic compass) that works with an electronic accelerometer to orientate the onscreen map to the direction you’re heading. I found the pedestrian mode useful with both Nokia Maps and Compass on several occasions, but there are inherent limitations. A satellite GPS signal won’t penetrate the shop awnings that line many streets. And, in Auckland, at least, I was constantly hiding my $700 phone from the rain.

6. Better route choice: By default, Nokia Maps took me up Dominion Road to get into work. That's the most direct route as the crow flies - or as a car would fly in a parallel universe where Dominion Road is not the most busy street in New Zealand. Compass directed me up Mt Eden Road through the clogged Mt Eden village; smart locals take neither of these main parallel main routes to the CBD, instead zipping through sidestreets to avoid rush hour traffic. However, unlike Compass, Nokia Maps does give you an option to avoid motor ways, if not the granularity in route preferences offered by the likes of Navman, which can be set to avoid main roads.

The above factors give the Navigator 6210 with Nokia Maps on top overall. However, Compass still has the edge in a few areas.

1. Bad speech, good directions. First, as I noted in my earlier review, Compass attempts to pronounce street names. For example, “After 50 metres, turn left into Queen Streat”. (Nokia Maps, like Navman, TomTom and the like, simply says “Turn right after 200 metres” etc). Compass makes a complete hash many street names (the guys behind Yapp’s speech synthesiser need a few lessons in Te Reo ... and Te English, too) but they’re still recognisable. That really helps when there are multiple turn-offs coming up, and distance to them is not always accurately reported.

2. Better at finding businesses. Both Compass and Nokia Maps have some slick tricks like supplying directions when you select someone from your Contacts list, and both can search for any street address (though both are much clumsier at second guessing street names than a dedicated GPS unit). My Navigator also came with canned instructions on how to reach the nearest point of interest like an ATM, petrol station or pharmacy. But Compass had the edge for finding general businesses, thanks to its integration with yellowpages.co.nz. It’s nicely done.

3. Cheaper to run. Compass costs $10 a month, or $2.50 for a “day pass”, covering walk and drive instructions. Nokia Maps is cheaper from at the get-go as a Navigator 6210 comes with a free 180-day license. However, after your 180 days expires, you have to pay – and it has to be in Euros – €8.99 ($NZ18) for drive and walk instructions for a month, €24.99 ($NZ50) for three months or €69.99 ($NZ140) for a year. That’s especially stiff when you consider that dedicated GPS systems from Navman, TomTom and Garmin have no ongoing charges (though you do have to pay for new or updated maps).

Given that many BlackBerry owners are welded to the BlackBerry way of doing things, Compass will offer many enough to keep them in the fold.

Incidentally, The 6210 very much holds its own as a high-end phone, beyond its mapping capability. Mod cons include 3G Broadband, FM radio, and MP3 player, and a 3.2 megapixel camera that has its own dedicated button that works in a digital-camera like landscape mode. Resolution is great for casual snaps, but like other cam phones, even on expensive models, shutter speed is very, very slow.