Here maps application new version. Review of the Nokia HERE Maps app for Android

HERE WeGo (HERE maps). The Here app helps you find your way to your destination, no matter where you are. You can explore the world around you, explore new places, without fear of getting lost. With Here, you can keep your feet on the ground, knowing which direction to go next. With HERE you can travel around the world, create your own routes and find the right places even without an Internet connection. Just download the maps and save them on your phone or tablet. You will be able to fully work with them offline, wherever you are.

The HERE app helps you find what you need. See where restaurants and shops are near you. Have your plans changed? Arrange to meet up with friends and send them your location using Glympse. When preparing for your trip, mark on your map the places you want to visit upon arrival. Here you can also view ratings and reviews from Trip Advisor, Lonely Planet and others. Wherever you go by car, step-by-step voice guidance is always available. Information about the situation on the roads and the movement of public transport in real time will help you find the shortest route.

Peculiarities:

Choose convenient way get there: car, bicycle, taxi, public transport, car sharing, etc.
Compare routes by distance, speed or price and make the best choice.
Drive to your destination using detailed voice directions and visual instructions for the selected travel mode.
Find out everything about the road situation in time so as not to suffer from traffic jams and disruptions to public transport.
By downloading maps, you can navigate even where there is no connection.

Download the HERE WeGo app - Offline maps for Android you can follow the link below.

Developer: HERE Apps LLC
Platform: Android 4.1 and higher
Interface language: Russian (RUS)
Status: Free
Root: Not needed

HERE Maps is a highly accurate navigation app that contains detailed maps of the entire world. The program library is constantly updated with new cities, houses and streets. The developers have taken care of all categories of users: motorists will appreciate voice prompts and synchronization with the database of traffic events, pedestrians will be able to check the public transport schedule, and travelers will enjoy the ability to navigate without an Internet connection.

Possibilities:

navigation software based on proprietary maps;
traffic notifications;
a unique algorithm for constructing a route taking into account external factors;
transport schedule;
offline access.

Working principle:

The navigator interface can be divided into three blocks. The first provides tools for navigating the terrain and plotting a route. The second section allows you to download maps for offline use and switch to navigation mode without connecting to the Internet. Let us note that the plan for Russia and nearby countries is very detailed; manufacturers are monitoring not only the renewal of commercial facilities, but also even changes in the numbering of houses. The last block is for changing parameters and writing reviews.

The main window of the navigation screen itself is also convenient, the icons are logically labeled and have a size that is comfortable for “hit accuracy”. The entire menu is accurately translated into Russian.

Pros:

constant support of maps from the developer;
thoughtful localized interface;
all features are available for free.

Cons:

the application can build a route along a bad road;
The traffic map takes a little longer to update than the standard (service from Yandex).

Nokia engineers took part in the development of this navigation software. Phones from this manufacturer have always had excellent navigation functionality. And now the HERE Maps application is available for download on Android devices.

The authoritative German magazine Auto Bild identified the hero of our review as the winner in the category “ The best software for drivers - 2015.” It’s not for nothing that at the end of 2015, the community of German automakers acquired the rights to HERE Maps from a Finnish developer for almost three billion dollars.

Analogues:

2GIS - a symbiosis of navigator and detailed catalog various objects;
Yandex.Maps is powerful mapping software with the ability to view panoramas.

In category mapping applications on Android platform the undisputed leader is undoubtedly Google Maps. However, very soon this quiet life may come to an end, as the HERE app from Nokia is about to be released. We looked at the first beta version of this program and came to the conclusion that the battle will be serious.

Mapping service from Nokia has always been somewhat in the shadow for Android users due to lack of appropriate mobile application. And it’s completely in vain, because HERE Maps surpasses many competitors in terms of coverage and reliability of maps. Suffice it to say that they use data from the world's leading manufacturer digital cards And geographic information systems Navtq. HERE Maps currently covers 196 countries, including navigation services in 96 countries.

After Nokia released the series own smartphones on Android, which included proprietary maps, the question of developing a version of HERE Maps for other devices was only a matter of time. And this happened: the company confirmed it, and the first betas leaked to the Internet.

When you first launch the application, it asks you to register, but you will only need this if you are going to save your favorite places and routes. The main place in the program window is occupied by a map of the area, only there is a search bar at the top, and several small buttons are located in the corners.

Using the menu button, you can open the program control panel, which contains buttons for switching to navigation mode (“By car”), calling up a list of saved places (“Collections”), switching to offline mode, access to settings. WITH right side There is another sliding panel, which makes it possible to change the map display style. In general, the information about the area provided by the application seemed quite detailed and reliable to me.

Motorists will be pleased with the navigation function, which is available in both follow and review modes. The application has a voice prompt function, including in Russian, but the files necessary for this must be downloaded additionally. In settings car mode You can set the unit system, route selection options, turn on speed alerts, and so on.

If you don't drive a car, then Nokia HERE will also be very useful for you. useful application. It is capable of not only plotting routes for walking, but also knows everything about the movement of local public transport. To do this, you only need to indicate the purpose of your trip, and the program will immediately lay out everything possible options its achievements with the number of transfers and stops.

Finally, we have saved the most pleasant feature for you Nokia apps HERE, which looks set to become a trump card in the fight against Google Maps. The fact is that all its features can be used without an Internet connection. To do this, you need to select “Download maps” in the menu, and then indicate your country. Cards are quite large, so you need to make sure you have enough space on your SD card.

Overall, the Nokia HERE app looks quite interesting and promising. Thanks to comprehensive and up-to-date cartographic information, convenient interface and the presence of all necessary functions it is quite capable of competing with Google Maps. And the ability to work offline may even tip the scales in the fight for the favor of users. The disadvantages include insufficient optimization and some “thoughtfulness” of the interface, which will be especially noticeable on weak devices. However, do not forget that this is only a beta version.

You can download and try Nokia HERE beta yourself.

Yandex has released the Navigator application for mobile devices under control Windows Phone 8, thereby planning to compete with Nokia navigation products under the Here brand. Namely, Drive applications or Drive+ for motorists. Finnish cards were still considered best choice for WP smartphones, but how will the balance of power among navigators change after the advent of Yandex? In the editorial office of iGuides, we decided to test this in combat conditions on the streets of Yekaterinburg, driving a car along two routes, and we managed it simultaneously with Yandex.Navigator and Here Drive+.

After installing the apps, users can immediately get behind the wheel and drive. But in this case, the cards will be loaded by force mobile internet, that at bad signal cellular network may affect ease of use. However, if you prepare for your trip in advance, you can download maps for offline navigation in both applications. But if the voice track is installed by default in Yandex.Navigator, you will have to download it manually in Here Drive+, otherwise you will have to drive with the silent Nokia application.

As usual, navigation applications determine the location and are ready to immediately send the user along the selected route. There are no complaints when preparing for work and planning a route, but if Here Drive+ offers to go immediately after specifying the destination, Yandex.Navigator also shows an alternative route that the driver may like better. As a rule, one of the “Yandex” routes coincides with the opinion of Here Drive+.

During the trip, the Yandex application shows details of the traffic situation, in particular accidents, traffic jams, renovation work, cameras and more. Nokia maps are deserted - there is only an indication of points of interest included in the traffic information settings. Less accurate and less detailed than Yandex. On the other hand, Drive+ reports the speed limits in force on the current section of the route, and if it is exceeded, it notifies beep. "Navigator" can also show the speed of movement, but no more. The information in both applications is quite accurate - the error is most often 3-5 km/h.

But if during the construction of the route and driving Yandex.Navigator turned out to be more useful and informative, as you get closer to your destination, Drive+ wins back points. It turns out that the product of domestic developers, despite more detailed map, does not know about entrances and passages to buildings. In two cases, the Nokia navigator showed how to correctly drive to a destination, for example, into a parking lot near a hotel and into the driveway between houses, while Yandex.Navigator ended the route on the roadway opposite the place where end point. It doesn't matter whether you can park your car there. In some places this will not be a problem, and the driver will be able to figure out where to turn to get to the the right house, and do not abandon the car in the middle of the road or on the side of the road. But it’s easy to imagine situations where this is not obvious, and you end up having to circle between houses for a long time.

The main disadvantage to the reputation of Here Drive+ is that the service allows gross mistakes, suggesting to turn where it is not allowed. In our case, it was a left turn in a place where you can only move straight and to the right. At the same time, the route was laid taking into account this turn, as a result we had to make a circle, increase the trip by a little more than a kilometer and stand in a traffic jam. However, the probability similar mistake Yandex.Navigator also has it, but it is smaller.

If we talk about other advantages of the two navigation applications, in the case of Yandex I would like to note audio tracks with masculine and in a female voice, convenient access to thematic points of interest from the address entry window and voice input using SpeechKit technology. In turn, Here Drive+ is fully adapted for driving, including a section with settings, and also has a function to search for a car in a parking lot, which will be convenient near large shopping centers.

Advantages

The interface is fully adapted for driving;

Nokia has refined and improved its mapping service Nokia Maps, which is now called Nokia HERE. You can evaluate his work on the website.

Home page looks especially impressive in mode Maps 3D.

Other modes of operation of the site:

Map
Satellite map
Terrain
Community

Community mode - for traditional and useful function"Routes", which allows you to plot a route between two selected points - for traveling by car, public transport or for walking.

Directions feature: Nokia HERE finds the shortest route across the Gulf of Finland

New feature - "Collections". It is for saving your favorite places; say, in Paris, in addition to the Eiffel Tower, it could be a small shop on Rivoli, where you bought something nice, or a cozy cafe in Montmartre, where you spent a wonderful evening. Favorite places can be shared via social networks.

An interesting feature is the Map Creator tool. Nokia invites you to become a co-author of the mapping service HERE: « Help create the most up-to-date maps in the world. Add or edit roads and share the results with the world" Changes from Nokia users will be supplemented original maps and satellite images.

Finally, one of the most “delicious” things is “3D Maps”. It is truly an exciting experience to explore the world in 3D. It’s especially fun to explore cities; alliance with the company Earthmine allowed to add to " HERE"3D panoramas of cities. Simple controls will allow you to view them at any scale and from any angle.

London - Westminster and the Eye of London

Venice - St. Mark's Square

Las Vegas - Paris Las Vegas Casino

So far, 25 of the world's greatest cities have been recreated in 3D. I hope their number will expand. Of course, the Finnish company included Helsinki and Stockholm in the list of “25 Greatest”, but the appearance of Paris and St. Petersburg there remains to be seen. For each city there is a list of attractions, which is similar Here.net with service.

Implemented in some cities interesting feature"Explore the surrounding area."

The movement of the cursor on the map is accompanied by the appearance of a photograph of this place

You can immediately switch to viewing mode for 3D panoramas

We say "Nokia" - we mean " mobile communications". HERE can be downloaded to any Nokia phone. In addition, versions have already been prepared HERE for mobile devices on iOS, Android and Firefox OS.

But who is luckier than others are the smartphone owners Nokia Lumia - for now only they can use the augmented reality service Nokia City Lens- display nearby places using the camera viewfinder. It's like the cards HERE Maps, can be downloaded from the monitored site.

Nokia City Lens: pointing your phone camera at this view tells you that there are 4 cafes nearby, 2 store and 1 theater

Nokia's mapping service works quickly, and the maps are well detailed. Generally Nokia HERE- quite worthy alternative . It's easy to believe the Finnish company's claim that its mapping service is last year began to be used 75 times more than in the previous period.

Interactive satellite maps Nokia are the best on the market right now. In any case, this is what the head of the company, Stephen Elop, thinks. But the last word, as always, belongs to the consumer, that is, you and me. Go to Here.net to form your opinion about map service Nokia HERE. As Nokia says,

Explore the world without leaving home. All you need is a browser and curiosity

And this video will introduce you to popular travel destinations (where you will need the service Nokia HERE)
∙