GLOBAL – Last night we brought news of the new Ovi Maps Player API and with it a brief intro to the latest Forum Nokia Developer competition: Calling All Innovators – Apps on Maps. With the new Ovi Maps Player API Ovi Maps has been opened up to third parties to add location aware services and content to Ovi Maps. What’s more, Ovi Maps can now be easily embedded in other websites or web applications, all using familiar technology such as HTML, CSS and Javascript. Oh, and there’s the small matter of $30,000 too. That’s the prize fund up for grabs for the best Apps on Maps solution.
The competition is open to ideas now, so developers should get on down to Forum Nokia and enter. The Forum Nokia folks are looking for an idea for an “innovative mobile application that harnesses the power of Ovi Maps”. The winner will bag the $30,000 prize fund and get premium placement for the application on the soon to be released (it’s still May!) Ovi Store.
With a range of possibilities on the table, this competition looks set to harness the power of open source, and a raft of developers to create new and innovative uses for Ovi Maps. Gaming, travel, news or entertainment could all benefit from a smart new Ovi Maps based apps. I’m looking forward to seeing what comes out of this.
If you’re not a developer, but have an idea, please feel free to drop it in below and we’ll highlight the best ones next week. If you are a developer, however, we suggest you keep your idea to yourself for now and get on over to Forum Nokia and enter the competition. Good luck!