Even though we can all agree on the fact that addresses are not popular in Lebanon, we have to admit nobody knows all the local shops and buildings, which are generally used as a reference point to find a friend's place. We, at NokiaLB, all think that Ovi Maps for Lebanon is just awesome and works perfectly, even though map data is said to be still in Beta. What is really missing in the Lebanese map data are not the roads, which are extremely well mapped, but the Points of Interests that are very few in the database, a pretty annoying fact as Lebanese people generally refer to a place by the nearest famous "Point of Interest".

While it is annoying not to have them yet in Ovi Maps, we're sure many of them will be included with the final version. However, even if Nokia integrates them, we can affirm not all the local POIs will be there, as buildings cannot be considered as POIs, yet are generally used to give directions to a place. You may then wonder how you can find them if you and your phone don't know where they are! Well it's easy! The first part of this article will explain how to locate the place or point of interest you want using WikiMapia while the second one will show you how to integrate these into Ovi Maps.

I. Fiding POIs on WikiMapia

In this example, we're looking for City Mall in Lebanon

1) Go to WikiMapia and type "Bayrut" or "بيروت" in the search field and click on "search".

2) Click on "Bayrut (بيروت) Jabal Lubnan, Lebanon (city)". The map now shows a satellite view on Beirut and Mount Lebanon.

3) Type the name of the place you're looking for and click on "search". In our example, we're typing "City Mall".

4) Click on the name of the place. A zoomed satellite view on the building/place you were looking for appears on your screen, with a white "+" on it.

5) Click on the "+". A popup window appears displaying some information about the place.

6) The GPS coordinates of the place are shown on the upper right hand corner. This is the information you need to provide Ovi Maps with. The ones for City Mall are 33°53'53"N   35°33'50"E

II. Entering the GPS Coordinates in Ovi Maps

Given the fact you are not entering a simple address, you need to save the GPS coordinates as a landmark.

1) Open the "Landmarks" application, located either in your "Settings" menu (older phones) or you "Applications" folder. You may either find the "Landmarks" application directly in the menu or in the "Location" application. If you don't find the "Landmarks" icon, try using the "Search" application. Remember, if you can't find the "Landmarks" application on your phone, look for the "Location" icon.

2) Now that the application is open, select "Options > New Landmark > Enter manually"

3) Give it a name and then scroll down to the bottom to provide your phone with the place's latitude and longitude. The latitude is the part on the left of the GPS coordinates and the longitude is the part on the right.

In our example, we fill the form as it follows:

Name: City Mall

Latitude: 33°53'53"N

Longitude: 35°33'50"E

4) Press "Done" and you're all set! You have saved your POI as a landmark on your phone, which has automatically been added to your Ovi Maps favorite places!

Now, if you wish to navigate to this new POI, simply open Ovi Maps and select "Favorites > Places". You now have a list of your favorite landmarks, click on one of them to Navigate there, show it on the map, add it to your route, obtain more details, send it or edit it.

NB: We deliberately decided not to include screenshots as devices are very different from each other and screenshots could be misleading instead of being helpful.