At the time of its acquisition by Nokia, Navteq was the largest maker of automotive-grade map data used in car navigation equipment.
By August 2011, the coverage had expanded to 23 cities, and in 2012, Nokia bought EarthMine, which specializes in street level 3D image capture.
However, major features such as off-line routing and text-to-speech navigation of street names, compared to the Symbian version, were absent.
On 13 November 2012, Nokia announced that it would rebrand its location offering as HERE to highlight its vision for the future of location-based services and its belief in the importance of mapping.
In 2014, Windows Phone's low market share, as well as the end of Nokia's partnership with Microsoft, led to the company prioritizing Android and iOS development.
[35] In December 2016, Navinfo, Tencent and GIC Private Limited (the Singapore sovereign wealth fund) agreed to buy a 10% stake in Here.
Upon completion of the transaction, HERE had nine direct and indirect shareholders: Audi, Bosch, BMW Group, Continental, Intel Capital, Mitsubishi Corporation, Mercedes-Benz, NTT and Pioneer.
[43] The 2016 Jaguar Cars XF and XJ models incorporate HERE map technology drive guidance in their in-car infotainment systems.
[44][45] HERE MapCare was first implemented with Volvo vehicles in 2009 and has since spread to at least 23 other manufacturers (such as Hyundai, Mazda and Mitsubishi) utilizing HERE maps data in their infotainment systems.
HERE map data is updated for a period of around three years from the date of purchase of the vehicle and is performed at the time of service from the car dealer.
The system works in alerting the driver with a suitable time period to react to the fact that there is a traffic jam up ahead.
This standard defines how sensor data gathered by vehicles on the road can be sent to the cloud to update maps on the fly.
The premise of the technology is to allow for the collection of data to alert other cars on the road to traffic obstacles or accidents in the vicinity.
An example is the aggregation of data from windshield wipers and slipping tires to notify other drivers to avoid an ice-filled area.
A favorites list shows the top 25 most popular places in the vicinity looking at positive reviews, search queries and other user data.
[59] In November 2012, Here announced the decision to open up its location platform to all operating systems so that anyone with any kind of device could access it.
With an open platform HERE broadens its reach and acquires more users, which in turn generates more data for its location cloud.
The free app provides iPhone users with maps in almost 200 countries as well as public transit, walking and driving directions.
[citation needed] HERE Maps for iOS got multiple bad reviews from the start stating it was "a mess", "a wreck", "unfinished", "buggy"[62] and "rushed out HTML5-powered turkey".
[64] The Here web site was offered as replacement, however, as of December 2014, Here noted that they plan to "officially launch HERE for iOS in early 2015.
[68] Because the suite runs on Windows, users can save their favorite destinations as live tiles to their start screen and the app will calculate routes based on current location.
Its features include visual and audio speed limit warnings, voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation with spoken street names (optional) in more than 60 countries in 50 different languages and offline availability.
The user interface is designed for drivers, and map data includes 260 attributes such as turn restrictions, physical barriers and one-way streets.
HERE Drive and HERE Drive+ have optional live traffic information where available, but both lack dynamic rerouting, which is restricted to everyday commuting in a few countries only and then does not come with voice guidance.
[citation needed] HERE City Lens is augmented reality (AR) software that gives dynamic information, through the phone's camera display, about users' surroundings[70] such as shops, restaurants, and points of interest, shown as virtual signs overlaid on or above buildings.
[72] It is also possible to de-clutter the surroundings: version 1.5 has a "Sightline" feature where users can narrow their view to just what is in the direct line of sight, making it easier to spot interesting places.
Offline Enterprise Maps (for truck attributes and congestion zones) and LiveSight pedestrian guidance are also provided in this latest version of the SDK.
[96] In November 2012, Nokia acquired Berkeley-based company Earthmine to further bolster its 3D street-level imagery processing capabilities.
HERE supplies map content for Alpine, BMW, Mercedes, Garmin, Hyundai, Pioneer, Volkswagen and Toyota, among other car companies and enterprises.
[99] HERE licenses its location platform to other major companies, including Amazon, Bing, Yahoo!, Flickr, SAP and Oracle.