Nokia Introduces Here: Maps are also “offline”

Nokia is increasingly determined to make strong his voice in the market of digital maps. It’s called “Here” the service just launched by the Finnish company which will allow owners of any type of mobile device to obtain driving directions and up-to-date maps.

The landing of “Here” is happening at the moment on Apple iOS platform, which means that the service can be used by devices such as Apple’s iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. In short, “Here” will be made available to users of Android and Windows Phone.

Thanks to a partnership was started with Mozilla, Nokia plans to release a version of “Here” specifically designed for Firefox OS operating system.


Realized taking advantage of new HTML5 specification, one of the most interesting peculiarities of “Here” is that the consultation of maps can also occur in offline mode. This means that you don’t need to keep your Internet connection active to receive suggestions and directions.

The service just launched by Nokia allows you to take advantage of that help, as happens with a traditional browser, allows you to reach the target set by car, on foot or using public transport.

“Here” finds on maps any kind of point of interest (restaurants, bars, hospitals, stations, airports, …) and save places and itineraries.

The 3D visualization of urban and extra-urban roads has been improved thanks to the acquisition of the company “Earthmine”: the know-how thus acquired will be leveraged to optimize rendering of three-dimensional buildings and monuments.

Users of “Here” will be able to upload your own maps online updating eventually existing ones or correcting inaccuracies and errors. Through the “Map Creator”, in fact, it may indicate speed limits, road type, condition of the road surface, and so on.

While the website was already launched here.net, Nokia expects to publish the application for Apple iOS within a few weeks on the Apple online store.