The announcement of Google offering navigation software has got many of the GPS navigation companies like TomTom and Garmin into trouble.  The announcement from Nokia will get them into more troubles.

Nokia has just announced to offer their Ovi Maps turn-by-turn navigation software free for Nokia smartphone users.  And the offer is global.  It covers 74 countries in 46 languages — a move that should cover 20 million smartphones globally with Ovi Maps available in over 180 countries.

And it will have a big advantage over Google Maps Navigation because the maps will be store locally.  It means you do not require a data connection from your smartphone to download map data online when doing navigation.  A BIG BIG plus over Google Maps Navigation as you don’t need to pay data roaming charges when you use it overseas.

What’s more?  It has Lonely Planet Guide and Michelin Guide integrated.  And you get to update the maps free for life (at least at the moment).

Why wait, download the software for you Nokia smartphone (if you have one and it is in the supported phone list) here.

[via Engadget]