Searching for your favorite food joint? Or just hoping to find the nearest ATM to top up your wallet? These are the little things that matter in your daily life, and while most GPS navigation devices will answer the above questions, suffice to say, there are also alternatives to big chunky personal navigation devices. One such alternative comes to mind if you were to pick up your Nokia device and start using its integrated Nokia Maps 2.0 navigation software.

In our earlier article, we covered the significant changes that were introduced in Nokia Maps 2.0, but going deeper into the story, we’ll be focusing on specific areas to give you a better understanding and capacity to utilise the full functionalities of this navigation software. You might have guessed as much that what we’ll be touching on today is the newly integrated search bar that’s apparent when you are on the main Nokia Maps screen, as depicted below.

Unlike its earlier iteration which requires you to enter the main menu to access the internal search function, the newly integrated search bar allows you immediate and direct access to enter your search queries.

As depicted here, you can enter your search query with the aid of the T9 input method or with the traditional input method available by pressing the “#” button and thus allowing you to enter obscure locations with less than common naming conventions. As with most other search features, you won’t need to enter the full search query to render search results. Nonetheless, our recommendation is for you to be as precise as possible with your entry.

While your device might possess a degree of information in its search database internally, it might not be adequate and thus, utilising a network connection and allowing your Nokia device to search through the online database would be a wiser choice.

With the search done and sealed, you’ll notice that search results on Maps 2.0 are categorised according to the Drive and Walk grouping as introduced on this new iteration, and as seen once more, the Guides category will be once more an integral part of the search feature, presenting you with the various guides available for your search queries.

Within both the Drive and Walk category, you’ll notice the details that really matter, such as the distance from your current position. Of course, further details such as the exact address, contact number and coordinates are available when you click the Enter button and choose Details as depicted below.

Notice that there’s a small little locked icon just beside one of the search queries. As mentioned earlier on, Guides are also available for specific returned results, and the locked (or unlocked icon, should the licence have been purchased), indicates a guide that’s tied to the location. To access the associated Guide, click on the Enter button, and then Details, which should present a page as shown below.

Of course, if you were to access a locked guide which requires you to purchase the licence first, there’s also the option to preview the said guide to see if it’s to your liking, following which, purchasing it can be done with just a few clicks as presented in our earlier article.

While Maps 2.0 does provide you with the basic information you need, as found via its integrated search bar, it offers more than just a basic package, as each search result is wholly integrated with the Maps 2.0 experience, from the details of each location to the possibility of sending a location to others via the use of e-mail or MMS. The search function is only a small part of what one can see on Maps 2.0 and we’ll be featuring much more in our future articles, right here at Nokia Zone!