Nokia announces HERE location services, app for iOS available soon
Today, Nokia has dropped a bombshell on the blogosphere by announcing a new location service suite. Nokia’s HERE is a new location based services that makes efficient use of cloud computing. HERE location cloud service will provide location platform, location content and location apps across various ecosystems (iOS, Android, Firefox OS, Windows Phone etc). “Location based experiences need to evolve from an app-centric approach towards a holistic customer experience; consumers want services that are optimized for multi-mobile device use and available on demand, everywhere”, said Thilo Koslowski, VP and Lead Automotive Analyst, Gartner. Though HERE will work best on Nokia’s Lumia lineup of Windows Phone devices, Nokia is actually working to bring this services set to as many devices as they can irrespective of the OS that the device is running. We think that this could be one of the most open location service available for use. HERE for iOS is a HTML5 application that will soon be available for iOS devices. This application will support offline navigation. Below are few screenshots of the same. HERE Maps for iOS is a dedicated voice guided turn by turn offline maps application. HERE maps will help users to get smart directions and navigation and users can choose among multiple modes (drive, walk, public transit etc). The offline maps support 4 levels of zoom. Do note that you need to download the maps to your iOS device to use offline mode. HERE Maps will support live traffic data and report incidents that hinder traffic or block certain areas. Shown below are few screenshots of the application, courtesy Nokia Conversations: For Android, Nokia is taking a completely different approach. Instead of releasing HERE Maps applicaiton, Nokia is releasing HERE Maps API so that partners can use the platform and the features in their applications. Below is a video of reference application that is built using HERE api to showcase the power of the API. Lastly, Nokia is working with developers of Firefox OS to make HERE mapping serivce available for Firefox OS devices at launch. Nokia has introduced a new technology named LiveSight that delivers augmented reality experience. The highly popular Nokia City Lens app for Lumia devices is the first appliation that is using this technology. LiveSight is a collection of mechanisms:
- 3D sight interface: buildings are detected by our collection technologies with high accuracy and feeling of depth
- Line of sight: with the line of sight view, only POIs in sight are displayed
- Freeze frame: save a live view to inspect the city without having to hold the camera pointed at the target
