Nokia has rebranded its maps solution to ‘Here‘. Which is a completely built HTML5 web application which would soon hit the iOS platform as a native iOS App with turn-by-turn navigation and 3D capabilities.
We all know that Google’s Maps has been one of the most stable mapping solution for everyone. But wait, there’s a huge competition for Google with Nokia pushing its ‘Here’ platform to the boundaries and trying to bring it to all major mobile platforms. Nokia’s Here runs on a 20 year old database, which has almost everything that Google has, with crowdsourcing solutions letting the users add custom locations at places near them. Today, Nokia has relaunched its mapping solution and calling it ‘Here’, which is available as a web app right now running with HTML5 and making use of its offline browsing capabilities. Talking about this new (and pretty huge) step towards the mapping solution, Nokia’s CEO, Stephen Elop says:
“People want great maps, and with Here we can bring together Nokia’s location offering to deliver people a better way to explore, discover and share their world,”
The Here also has got public transport directions along with voice navigation capabilities, and this is expected to make a huge impact when it launches on the iOS App Store. The mapping solution from Nokia is not only launching for iOS but also for Nokia devices running Windows Phone OS, Google’s Android and also Mozilla’s Firefox OS.
3D capabilities are being helped by the folks over at Earthmine, a company that Nokia has acquired recently. The team is working to bring some efficient 3D capabilities to the ‘Here’ running devices using their expertise.
But for Nokia, the future of their mapping solution seem to be bright. Stephen Elop revealed that the company will continue to invest some amount to improve their location based services in the near future, as its being the need of the hour. I’ve been messing around with ‘Here’ for sometime, and I think it outperforms the iOS 6 Maps application. The 4Cast will have the complete review of Nokia’s Here in a while. Stay tuned.
And Nokia, all the best with Here.