Nokia Announces Maps Rebranding to “Here”; Available Cross Platform/OS + 3D Mapping via EarthMine
Ahhh Nostalgia…
In a somewhat puzzling move Nokia have officially announced that “Nokia Maps” will from now on be known as “Here”, no not “Nokia Here” just plain “Here”. Apparently this rebranding is to somehow help Nokia Maps “Here” take on Google Maps which has for a long time dominated the US Market. Although I fail to see the need to remove the name Nokia from the mapping service I’m sure someone out there thought it was a good idea for some reason or the other. Along with the re-branding Stephen Elop also announced a new service of 3D Street Maps (like Google Street View) powered by the recent acquisition of earthmine, as well as some data gathering vehicles.
To help “Here” compete with Google maps Nokia plan to bring it to multiple platforms across the range in the form of true apps rather than in browser web apps, let’s see how this works out..
“We want to give everyone with any type of device the ability to use this, the best location platform in the industry,” Elop remarked, arguing that “openness is what sets Here apart” from any mapping service in the world.
Also worth noting is that the Nokia maps site can now be accessed by Here.net, which brings along with it some extended services such as the ability to book hotels in advance through the site. Also follow here on twitter here.
My first impression of “here” is that it’s pretty darn fast; which would of course be due to the fact that it’s all located in the cloud; so no need to communicate with Nokias servers for the data, and it seems Gizmodo agrees with me
Category: Applications, Aquisitions, Lumia, MeeGo, News, Nokia, Symbian, Windows Phone
About the Author (Author Profile)
Heyyo, names Ali- Currently a fourth year Dental Student from Chicago; studying in Jordan. I love all sorts of gadgets almost as much as I love my cookies! (Have: Green Nokia N8, Cyan Lumia 800, Black N9, Stormtrooper White Lumia 900, Black 808 PureView, Red Lumia 920). Follow my twitter handle '@AliQudsi' - no pressure. Thanks.Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
Comments (104)
Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed
Sites That Link to this Post
- Nokia Maps devient « HERE » « Nokians – La parole aux fans de Nokia ! | November 13, 2012
- Nokia Conversations » Here: community reaction | November 14, 2012
- Here: community reaction | Nokipedia | November 14, 2012
- Exclusive: Q&A With Nokia’s Mapping Team on “Here”, iOS/Android Apps, City lens, WP8 and Much Much More : My Nokia Blog | November 14, 2012
Anyone know if this is making use of Navteq True data?
AFAIK at least Nokie Lense does and thus I assume LiveSight does too.
Thanks. The potential of Navteq True seems enormous.
“here” ??? seriously? that sounds stupid
Lets see if I can now access nokia maps on firefox. For some reason nokia maps was working on firefox.
Nokia Maps coming to multiple OSs/platforms sounds great. The name change is weird, but if Nokia sincerely brings all it’s location services to the all platforms then it’s good PR and good business opportunity for Nokia.
As long as the Nokia logo or at least the word “Nokia” appears on the apps/site/marketing then I don’t really see a problem.
“HERE… I am local, HERE… I am connected, HERE… I am free. HERE. By Nokia”
Works for me.
Makes me wonder if a cross platform “NOW” app is coming…
No Nokia branding visible anywhere (the src on the ‘Here’ img and link shows Nokia on hover). Just checked, also, could not sign in. It seems that link does not work yet.
In the bottom corner there is Nokia copyright disclaimer, and also the “welcoming text” said Nokia quite clearly.
bitplay nokia nokia nokia is a charity organisation now
The sad truth is here.net is clearly worse than google maps in my city (USA). Hopefully that’s not the case elsewhere or on mobile platforms or something…
yesss, NO BRAND stamp is on it any more…
Conteo, anyone? OMG…
Ali, just saw this on GSMArena http://goo.gl/iqE3z
Funny how they say new features because as far as I know they all existed since S60 days.
“First is a feature called Collections, which lets you save locations to your Nokia account so you can quickly jump to them without having to search for them every time.” Isn’t this what favourites was? Plus you could sync them up by signing into your Nokia account on the phone and create categories. I’ve had my favourites synced across the 5800XPM, N8, N9 and 808.
“Nokia has also added a maps editor, so users can now update street names and traffic information and the information will be added to the maps for others to see.” Actually spoke to Henri Mattila Head of Product Marketing for Middle East and Africa about this. Symbian let you add new places through Check in and report incorrect roads and places through guides (?). Sadly missing that on the N9 because I do tend to report quite a few wrong roads/POIs. The Maps on Lumia will let you do that as well (phew), but it’s not entirely new for Symbian users.
Even the 3D view sort of existed before as well. I guess this whole ‘rebranding’ thing is more like Nokia ‘reinventing’ itself. Hope it’s for the best and Nokia doesn’t end up whoring itself out to others in the industry.
Now iPhone users will have the best mapping experience for free and Apple will do even better once they tell all their friends how great the new Maps app is on iOS. No Nokia branding, no recognition and thus my comment on Nokia whoring itself out… I would love to continue supporting Nokia, but you can’t be blind and support bad decisions either.
it is new features cause it’s cross platform now and all in the cloud.
Still hasn’t expanded transit directions. Bing Maps has them some places Nokia doesn’t, why don’t they combine their data?
yup. in my city bing maps has excellent sattelite view,and nokia maps is a mess, can’t zoom at street level. i don’t know if they share the sattelite data too but they should get their act together
Oh, great. Another Ovi. Ugh.
@jay, Ali…
Off topic : Apple fan girl switching to lumia 920 for 10 days..
http://mashable.com/2012/11/12/apple-fan-switch-lumia-920/
i can see it already: it’s nice but it doesn’t have a dropbox app,doesn’t sync my bookmarks, i miss instagram, no apps
I liked Nokia Maps. It tells the user what it is and who made it. :/
We will outsell Nokia Maps to everyone. – Conor Pierce
This joke makes my day
Its just as well that the Nokia branding was removed because I don’t see anything about support for Nokia devices. Just Apple, Google and Microsoft.
WTF this mean? Navteq True and earthmine are providing equivalent data, why Elop bought earthmine?
Isn’t the rebranding just for nokia.maps.com? As in only the webmaps?
Here?! This is even worse than the now dead failure called OVI. Nokia has really outdone itself in stupid branding…again. Totally idiotic behaviour from Elop.
I predict that the name will change back to Nokia Maps not in too distant future. Unless Nokia ceases to exist before it.