Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Here WeGo

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Developer(s)
  
HERE Global B.V.

Available in
  
English

Development status
  
Active

Here WeGo

Initial release
  
10 December 2014; 2 years ago (2014-12-10)

Stable release
  
2.0.10706 (Android), 2.0.4 (iOS) / 28 September 2016; 5 months ago (2016-09-28), 20 September 2016; 5 months ago (2016-09-20)

Operating system
  
Android, iOS, Tizen, webCritical updates only:Windows PhoneDiscontinued:Windows 10 Mobile, Windows, Symbian, Asha

Here WeGo (formerly Here Maps) is a maps and navigation application for Android and iOS, and a desktop web mapping service by HERE Global B.V.. Originally developed by Nokia, the application was first released for Windows Phone and the web in 2014, and later for Android and iOS. Maps are updated on a bi or tri-monthly basis. Here Maps was released to the Google Play store on 10 December 2014 and to the iOS store on 11 March 2015.

Contents

Availability and compatibility

On 29 August 2014, Here was also launched for the Samsung Gear S, which utilises the HERE for Gear app specifically made available for Samsung devices.

As of June 2015, the Here app is available as a free app in 118 countries and territories across the world for the Android and iOS platforms.

On 3 September 2015, Here announced that its app would be available for the Samsung Gear S2 when the smartwatch is released later this fall.

On 15 March 2016, Here announced that it would discontinue support for its app for Windows 10 Mobile on 29 March 2016 due to its use of "a workaround that will no longer be effective after June 30, 2016", and that the existing Windows Phone 8 app will only receive critical updates after this date and no longer be actively developed. Here maps licensed by Microsoft are still offered as part of the existing Bing Maps-based software on these devices.

On 27 July 2016, the app was updated and re-branded Here WeGo; the update first launched on Android, and is to be followed by an iOS version and a relaunch of the web version. The update and rebranding focuses on navigation capabilities, including the addition of taxi fare information in some cities, and integration with Daimler's Car2Go service.

Turn-by-turn navigation

Here WeGo provides turn-by-turn navigation in both offline and online modes. Users can enter a destination address, landmark, or business name, and then the app automatically calculates directions and distance to the destination. Real-time traffic data (where available) is also factored and a prediction made on arrival time to the destination.

Here WeGo used to provide text-to-speech "Hi-Fi" navigation voices on Android, but eliminated them to focus on "bringing a larger variety of good quality voices instead of handful of Hi-Fi voices.". On 17 August 2015, Here announced that navigation voice 'Surfer Dude' was made available in the iOS app with the Android app to receive the update in the near future.

Public transport directions, pedestrian navigation, and bicycle navigation

Public transport data is also automatically pulled by the HERE app whilst planning a route, for transport options such as buses and trains. This is made available simultaneously with pedestrian (walking) data, enabling users to select the transportation mode. Time and distance estimates are also provided (as is the case with driving navigation).

Bicycle routes are also available, using data on suitable cycling routes including roads, cycleways, and pedestrian pathways.

Full transit information is available in Switzerland, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Israel, The Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, Taiwan, and Ukraine, and partial support for transport directions in other countries.

Real-time traffic and reversible lane traffic

As of June 2015, Here WeGo has real-time traffic data available for 50 countries, such as the United States of America, Canada, Brazil, Australia, and New Zealand. This data provides up-to-the-minute information regarding traffic conditions and incidents that may cause delays in a commuter's travels. Most recently, the countries Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bulgaria, and Romania came on board with live traffic data.

In late June 2015, Here added real-time traffic for reversible express lanes, across the United States of America and Europe.

'Collections' and location sharing

Here WeGo also has the ability for users to save the location and details of their favourite destinations as 'Collections'. Users are also able to manage their collections through renaming, editing, and deleting. Access to the 'Collections' hub is straightforward in being present on the main tab under 'Maps' and 'Drive' within the HERE app itself.

Within 'Collections' is the additional ability to share your saved or current location via a variety of methods. Users may do this using Glympse, or more traditional methods such as Google+, Facebook Messenger, email, or Twitter.

Offline maps

Here WeGo can download maps of countries to the internal storage of the respective device. In addition to map browsing, users can also search for places, plan routes, and utilise turn-by-turn navigation without incurring any mobile data costs. Switching back from 'Use app offline' to 'online usage only' provides live traffic data and additional venue information.

Venue maps

Here WeGo also contains a range of indoor venue maps for large indoor venues such as shopping malls, airports, and other public places. These offer multi-level building navigation in three dimensions, giving the user access to the destination/information they require for a particular place.

Street view

Street level views are available on Windows platform and on defunct Yahoo! Maps site for some countries including United States, France, Spain, United Kingdom, Finland, and United Arab Emirates.

HERE for Android public beta

Initially the HERE app was announced as a beta only for select Samsung Galaxy smartphones on 29 August 2014. The app was downloadable from 8 October 2014 from Samsung's Galaxy Apps Store.

The first public release of the beta HERE app (across all of the Android platform) was initiated on 21 October 2014, as an APK download from the HERE.com website. The reach of the HERE app was further extended through its availability in the Google Play store from 10 December 2014 onwards.

On 12 February 2015, HERE shed its beta tag and became a stable release on the Google Play store.

On 9 July 2015, HERE launched a new public beta of its Android app, thereby inviting members of the public to assist in testing the newest features. In turn, the provided feedback and user data will provide faster iterations of the stable build of the HERE app.

Download statistics

HERE reached 1,000,000 (1 million) downloads on the Android platform a couple of weeks after launch and, 12 weeks after its launch, reached 2.5 million downloads. In mid-February 2015, HERE had accumulated more than 3 million downloads for the Android version of its app. In March 2015, HERE accumulated a total of 4 million downloads through the Google Play store alone. As of 4 August 2015, HERE reached 5 million downloads for its Android app in the Google Play store, and reached more than 10 million downloads in early 2016.

Symbian^3/Belle

HERE was available on the Symbian^3 platform under the previous name, Nokia Maps. The latest, and the last, Version 3.09 included:

  • Driving and walking turn-by-turn with international voice guidance
  • Live traffic rerouting in some countries
  • Live traffic visualisation on the map in some countries
  • Third-party content such as ViaMichelin and Lonely Planet
  • Social networking service integration
  • Support for preloading street maps for offline use
  • Users can report errors in the maps (from version 3.03 except on Nokia E66 and E71 models)
  • Local weather conditions by the hour and forecasts for the week
  • Night View mod
  • Satellite maps and terrain maps
  • 3D buildings and 3D maps
  • Public transport routing in some cities
  • Saving of favourites
  • City Lens (augmented reality) (Beta only)
  • Nokia stated that the Nokia 808 from 2012 will be the last Symbian phone. Symbian development has halted, therefore no new features for Nokia Maps are to be expected. Accenture is responsible for maintenance of Symbian and Nokia Maps until 2016.

    The supported phones are:

  • Version 3.09 (12 November 2012, also called Maps Suite 2.0): only for Symbian Belle phones (500, 603, 700, 701, N8-00, E7-00, C7-00, C6-01, X7-00, E6-00)
  • Version 3.08 (15 November 2011) and 3.07: supported on Symbian^3
  • Version 3.06 (2 December 2010): Symbian S60v5 (N97, N97 mini, X6, C6-00, 5800XM, 5235 & 5230, etc.)
  • Version 3.04 (20 May 2010): Symbian S60v3 FP2
  • Asha/S40

    Maps for S40 were limited compared to other platforms. The maps were streamed online into the device or you can pre-download them with Nokia Suite. At some markets, the phones came with a SD card with preloaded local maps. They don't have turn-by-turn navigation and you can only plan pedestrian routes max. 10 km (6 miles) long with them. As none of Asha series phone had GPS, positioning is done by Cell ID of the cellular network or by using the Wi-Fi positioning system.

    References

    Here WeGo Wikipedia