How To: Send Google Earth Location From Computer To Nokia Maps On Phone
I’ll show you how to get info from Google Earth to Nokia Maps. Part of the reason I needed to do this was finding tickets hidden by Nine Inch Nails around Los Angeles. Read more for the guide and backstory.
Backstory
One of my favorite bands is Nine Inch Nails. Later this summer they start the Lights in the Sky tour. In June, they also put up a .kml file to be used with Google Earth. There’s info about installation on their flickr page below.
NIN tour Viewed in Google Earth
The .kml file is connected to a server. On July 4th at 2PM, Nine Inch nails updated the .kml file. Around 6PM, someone noticed something strange in the KML file. A question mark was placed in Burbank. The only info said “Under a Rock”. I inputted the street name into Nokia Maps and drove to the location. I couldn’t get the exact location, so I had to navigate by eye when I got nearby. I found nothing there. I found out later in the night someone got there about 10 minutes before me.
Someone found the tickets before me.
On July 8, another question mark showed in Griffith Park. The clue said “in the pipe”. I didn’t find out about this one until it was long too late. It took two hours to be found.
On July 12 at 4:15pm, another question mark popped, this time it was near Anaheim. The clue said “Campsite of Anza”. This place was 50 miles away. I figured I had 1 hour to get there, so I hopped in the car and drove. I didn’t get there until 5:40. Someone got there before me again.
I didn’t have my N82 with me that day (I sent it out for repairs). I could have routed myself around the traffic with Google Maps and found the exact location with Nokia Maps a little quicker if I did.
This whole ordeal made me wonder, how do I get info from Google Earth to Nokia Maps. In the past, The Nokia Blog has covered Google Maps to Nokia Maps and Phone to Phone location sending, but not Google earth to phone.
Steps
- Start off in Google Earth. Select your location and save it. Be sure to save as .kml and not .kmz.
- Next, go to this website: http://poiconvert.free.fr/
- For the source format, select .kml
- Next upload your file.
- Finally, select your output format. You can choose formats for TomTom (.ov2), Garmin (.asc) and Nokia Maps (.lmx). I can’t test TomTom or Garmin, so I’ll talk about Nokia Maps.
- Send the .lmx file to your phone. I sent the file with bluetooth for ease of use. You can also plug in the USB cable and then transfer the file, then open it with a file explorer. You can also email the file to yourself as an attached file.
- Open the .lmx file and Nokia Maps will start up and find the location.
Symbianespanol on 16 July 2008:
Great article!
I just translate it to Spanish (with a little tweak) and ping it back to you.
Besides, It came pretty handy for me right now…
Tnx.
Hernán.
eurodipity on 16 July 2008:
I had to translate it to spanish too jeje, and i think that this nokia development is very interesting. Im a lover of Nokia phones.
Zephrem on 21 July 2008:
For all who are interested, there’s an opensource program named ‘gpsbabel’ (see gpsbabel.org). It translates GPS-related files from literally any to any format (~120 formats).
Binaries are available for Windows, Mac and Linux – it’s a commandline program, but the Windoes and Mac versions even contain a simple GUI…
Nokia Daily News 07/16/08 | Nokia Daily News on 24 July 2008:
[...] The Nokia Blog – Al looks at Geocaching with Google Earth, Nokia Maps [...]
Nuno on 24 August 2008:
Hello. I’m trying to do the opposite. I’ve got some landmarks on my N95 and now want to see them in google earth…anyone? Tks
Al Pavangkanan on 24 August 2008:
Hi Nuno,
What you want to do is go into Landmarks. Open a location and send it to yourself via e-mail or your computer via bluetooth.
Then convert the .lmx file to the .kml format for google earth. Then it should open in google earth.
lieuwe on 29 November 2008:
not working for me
, using a nokia n82 opening the file opens it in a notepad-ish program. not in nokia maps(and yes nokia maps is installed on the phone)
Al Pavangkanan on 2 December 2008:
@lieuwe, remember to export .kml files from google.
On the conversion site, be sure to save the file as .lmx
lieuwe on 4 December 2008:
@Al Pavangkanan, i did that, but when i opened the file with notepad on windows, it actualy contained the contents of a html-404 not found error. when i used gpsbabel it worked like a charm
Kevin on 11 December 2008:
Great
One Question, I am trying to track GPS devices (trucks), these devices log positon onto my server at work, I want to track them on N95, can the LMX file be in realtime or would I have to refresh to get updates?
Any ideas and help would be good
Kevin
erwan on 17 April 2009:
i buy a nokia e71 yesterday … i download several lmx file for my country
how open this file with this phone ? with nokia map? Where have to we record these files ? directory
Erwan
pedroescudero on 12 July 2009:
Is more simple than this..
Download the last versión of google maps for Mobile.
Get yout KML it can have multiple locations in one file then open the file file into your phone, open it with File Manager, and it will open in Google Maps as a list of locations select each one and save into favorites.
Now you have it in Nokia Maps
dheeraj on 30 October 2009:
hey i am not able to use gps on my e71.
it was working fine yesterday but now the my position ikon has stuck to one place and is not moving with my change in location please help me out
dheeraj on 30 October 2009:
hey i am not able to use gps on my e71.
it was working fine yesterday but now the my position ikon has stuck to one place and is not moving with my change in location please help me out
dheeraj on 30 October 2009:
hey i am not able to use gps on my e71.
it was working fine yesterday but now the my position ikon has stuck to one place and is not moving with my change in location please help me out