As predicted, 2010 is shaping up to be the year of location. An unlikely entrant has just thrown its hat into the location-based social networking ring. Nokia, by way of Ovi Maps, has just introduced location-sharing to their smartphone users.The new Ovi Maps, which you may recall just gifted users with free turn-by-turn directions, also supports a “share location” feature that equips people with the ability to select where they are on the map and share their locations — street addresses, nearby points of interest or favorite places (as saved to their Maps) — and to post a status update and photo on Facebook.
Nokia’s approach to location-sharing is incredibly simple and practical, which means unlike Google and its Latitude product, users can share their locations on Facebook directly from the Maps application. No additional applications required. Essentially, location-sharing is now built into Nokia’s default mapping application, which exposes the relatively niche activity to a more mainstream audience instantly.
That fact alone makes this maneuver especially interesting. Although lacking the social gaming features of Foursquare, or a check-in model like Loopt and Yelp, Nokia has given its users the ability to share their locations with their friends on the world’s most popular social network without any additional legwork.
