Facebook adds Nokia’s Here Maps to their service

Posted on 07/05/2015 by Federico Lo Giudice

Mark Zuckerberg’s company and Nokia have reached an arrangement so Facebook can use HERE Maps in Instagram and Facebook Messenger.

The news website Techcrunch reports that Nokia and Facebook have signed an agreement so the second one can use the Finnish company’s maps on their mobile version, as well as Instagram and Facebook Messenger.

We have known for a while Nokia wanted to get rid or sell their HERE division, and it seems Facebook weren’t the only party interested – despite being the favorite candidate. Other companies involved were Alibaba, Baidu, Samsung and Yahoo.

Seemingly, Zuckerberg’s company made the best offer, and they might have already signed an agreement in which they would be already testing the new maps on the apps mentioned above, in a “trial period” designed to ensure everything works like it is supposed to. As of now, there is no official announcement from any of the two parties, but if everything works out, Facebook seems ready to move on with the buyout.

Nokia seems to be interested in the network business, and after acquiring Alcatel-Lucent, the money they would get from HERE would do wonders. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Zuckerberg’s team end up using these new maps on another of their biggest apps, Whatsapp, too.

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Nokia HERE Maps Come to Android, Pose a Threat to Google Maps

Posted on 03/09/2014 by Alexandru Chiuariu

Android-powered Nokia X smartphones have the HERE maps pre-installed, but the Finnish company wants to expand. A recent partnership signed with Samsung will bring the maps to Galaxy phones in the first stage, with other brands to follow in the near future.

The HERE mapping app is among the leftovers that Microsoft didn’t want when buying Nokia. After toying a bit with iOS in 2013 just after the “I got into a lake because of Apple Maps” fiasco, Nokia announced that it will launch HERE maps on Android and yet once more on iOS. The Finnish company definitely has an advantage over its competitors, as it bought Navteq, which is well experienced in navigation software and digital cartography in 2007. Since 2011, Navteq has been fully merged into Nokia and has constituted a big part of what the HERE maps are today.

Exec Sean Fernback stated in an interview with the WSJ that “Google Maps is a good solution for many, their maps work very well, but it has looked the same and done the same for a long time.” In a few words, he explained what the HERE maps will focus on changing.

With Navteq in its pocket, Nokia won’t have a lot of catching up to do. In fact, some claim that HERE maps would end up on the third place after being launched, just behind Google Maps and Apple’s. However, what most seem to forget is that Nokia’s maps are available in most cars with built-in navigation, fact that makes the Finns leaders in this industry.

What more, with their offline support, HERE maps are even preferred by some people in India, South Africa and other countries. As far as I’m concerned, the GPS sensor of my smartphone could by faulty, as according to Google Maps I went off-road quite a few times. I should mention that I’m mainly talking about rural areas, and here is exactly where Nokia’s HERE maps are said to excel.

As a consequence of Nokia’s partnership with Samsung, the HERE maps will first be available on Gear S, the Tizen smartwatch that’s said to rule them all. Soon after that, HERE Maps will make their way to the Galaxy line, and if everything goes fine, we should see Nokia’s navigation app on more Android devices. Google should really give some thought to improving their maps before Nokia washes them over.

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Nokia’s Here Maps service comes to the Asha 501, beta release available now for download

Posted on 04/07/2013 by Sarah Silbert

The touchscreen Asha 501 Nokia unveiled back in May will now work with Here Maps, the company announced on its blog today. The navigation service is already available on Windows Phone 8, Firefox OS, Android and iOS, and its arrival on the Asha platform will boost that operating system's more modest selection of apps. Available now as a beta release, Here Maps for the Asha 501 offers turn-by-turn navigation and real-time traffic information. It's designed specifically for low-end smartphones without GPS on board, and Nokia's post notes that the current version "is a starting point and we will improve the experience over time." Upcoming changes will likely include improved satellite images, which the company says will soon be updated to a higher quality. Asha 501 users in select countries can nab the Here Maps beta via the source link below.

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Nokia

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Source: Conversations by Nokia, Nokia Store

Nokia Here arrives for iOS, brings Navteq-powered offline maps and voice guidance

Posted on 20/11/2012 by Sharif Sakr

If you've been keeping up with the news of Nokia's cross-platform mapping service, then you'll know it's designed to offer access to all of that Finnish cartographic expertise even if you're holding something other than a Windows Phone or Symbian device. To that end, the iPhone and iPad version of Nokia Here has finally landed at the App Store, promising to make you "feel like a local anywhere you go," through traffic and public transport overlays, voice-guided in-car and on-foot navigation and community-based updates. It also integrates with Nokia's other new service, Collections, which lets you save your favorite places to a personal account. Crucially, the app allows you to download one geographical area of your choice as an offline map -- although a 10MB cap means that the more square miles you try to grab, the less detail you'll see.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Nokia

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Source: iTunes

Nokia Here collection vehicle hands-on (video)

Posted on 19/11/2012 by Myriam Joire

After our interview with Peter Skillman last week we were given a brief tour of the Nokia Here collection vehicle, a bright blue Volkswagen Jetta Wagon specially outfitted with a smorgasbord of sensors. The main attraction is a retractable roof-mounted mast that collapses behind an aerodynamic fairing for stowage. From top to bottom, this mast features a military-grade GPS antenna, a 360-degree panorama camera in a white pod (which captures the spherical views you'll see in Nokia Here), a Velodyne LIDAR unit in a spinning silver cylinder (for 3D mapping), high-resolution signage cameras in a black box (for forwards and backward automatic feature extraction) and finally a wheel encoder to measure distance / velocity. Sadly the car was locked so we were unable to check out what's inside or go for a ride, but we're hoping to remedy this at some point in the future. Until then check out the gallery below and hit the break for our hands-on video.

Gallery: Nokia Here collection vehicle

Continue reading Nokia Here collection vehicle hands-on (video)

Filed under: GPS, Transportation, Internet, Mobile, Nokia

Nokia Here collection vehicle hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Nov 2012 08:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Engadget Interview: Design Head Peter Skillman on Nokia Here

Posted on 13/11/2012 by Myriam Joire

We just had the opportunity to sit down with Design Head Peter Skillman here in San Francisco and get the lowdown on all things Nokia Here. A lot has changed since we interviewed him at Nokia World last year, including the launch of Windows Phone 8 and new Lumia devices. We talked about what Nokia Here brings to the table including LiveSight (a whole suite of applications including Drive, Walk and Public Transportation), the here.com full 3D WebGL experience and the Earthmine acquisition. Still, it's the cross-platform aspects of Nokia Here -- Android, iOS and Firefox OS support -- that intrigued us the most, so we asked how this affects the company's Windows Phone strategy (if at all). Join us for the full interview above.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Internet, Software, Mobile, Nokia

The Engadget Interview: Design Head Peter Skillman on Nokia Here originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Nov 2012 16:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.