A screenshot of a Google Maps navigational map, showing Seattle in Washington USA

Meltwater Entrepreneural School of Technology (MEST) in East Legon (a suburb of Accra, Ghana) was the venue of the just-concluded BarCamp Ghana 2009. Aside having interacted with some of the entrepreneurs-in-training (as their students are called) in the past, I knew little about MEST and had no idea of its exact location within East Legon.

I happen to use the mid-range Nokia E75 smartphone and had installed two navigational software on it: Nokia Maps 3 and Google Maps 3.2. Though Nokia Maps is far more sophisticated than Google Maps, I had to rely on the latter since Nokia Maps did not offer a navigable map service for Ghana.

Nokia E75 comes with a Global Position Satellite (GPS) receiver.

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a U.S. space-based global navigation satellite system. It provides reliable positioning, navigation, and timing services to worldwide users on a continuous basis in all weather, day and night, anywhere on or near the Earth.

Before setting-off, I retrieved the location of MEST from their contact page:

20 Aluguntuguntu St.
Ambassadorial Enclave
East Legon
Accra, Ghana

A Nokia E75 phone

We soon got to East Legon. Since Google Maps for Mobile did not offer street-level searching, I had to visually locate Aluguntuguntu Street on the map. Relative to our live location which is indicated on the map by a blinking blue dot, I was able to guide the driver through the turns to locate MEST. We soon drove into Aluguntuguntu Street. The street turn-out to be untarred and that made me wonder if we were driving on the right street. I proceeded, eager to see where the road ends and thus you would imagine my relief when I sighted the blue MEST building a few metres ahead.

Indeed, MEST is the first place I located successfully in Accra, by relying entirely on Google Maps for Mobile. Do you want Google Maps on your phone? Just type this URL into your phone’s browser: m.google.com/maps

Have you been using any mobile navigational application on your mobile? Share your experiences here and now, in the comments area.

Related posts:

1. My Location on Google Maps
2. Google News for Mobile
3. A review of DStv Mobile and Nokia 5330 Mobile TV Edition
4. Google Plus, a new social networking website
5. Announcing Google Ghana
6. Are mobile phones pushing cyber cafes out of business?
7. Google URL Shortener brings attention to Greenland & is Google dominating the Internet?
8. How much are you willing to pay for DStv Mobile?
9. DStv Mobile on your laptop, iPad, iPhone, iPod
10. Glo Mobile launch in Ghana imminent