| Here WeGo | |
| Logo Size: | 150px |
| Developer: | HERE Global B.V. |
| Latest Release Version: | 4.8.100 (Android), 2.0.41 (iOS) |
| Latest Release Date: | , |
| Operating System: | |
| Language: | English |
Here WeGo is a web mapping and satellite navigation software, operated by HERE Technologies and available on the Web and mobile platforms. It is based on HERE's location data platform, providing its in-house data, which includes satellite views, traffic data, and other location services.[1] [2] Maps are updated every two or three months.[3]
Originally developed by Nokia as Nokia Maps, it was revamped in 2013 and released as HERE Maps for Windows Phone and the World Wide Web. After Nokia sold it, the HERE Maps application was released to the Android platform on 10 December 2014 and iOS the next year. It was rebranded to HERE WeGo in July 2016.
In 2006, Nokia purchased a Berlin-based start-up, Gate5, that owned a mapping software called smart2go. In February 2007, Nokia announced that smart2go would be available for free on the S60 Symbian platform and Windows Mobile 5.0. It was preinstalled on handsets, including Nokia N95, which featured Global Positioning System (GPS) technology.[4] In August 2007 the smart2go application was reworked into Ovi Maps, named under the new umbrella Ovi brand, released for S60 3rd Edition devices.[5] Months later, Nokia bought Navteq, a provider of digital map systems.
Ovi Maps version 2.0 went into public beta in February 2008 and was released in May.[6] Version 3.0 was released in July 2009.[7]
Turn-by-turn navigation and traffic information originally required a subscription, but in January 2010 Nokia announced that these would be provided for free.[8] In 2011 it became Nokia Maps.[9] It was released for Nokia Lumia in November 2011, coming preloaded on the devices.[10] Further versions for the Nokia N900 and Nokia N9 were also released.
In November 2012, Nokia rebranded Nokia Maps to HERE Maps.[11] The rebranded version was initially released for iOS and later in February 2013 for all Windows Phone 8 devices.[12] It was also released on the Nokia Asha platform and Firefox OS.[13] The legacy Symbian and Series 40 versions continued using the old name without HERE branding.
The HERE application was first announced for Android as a beta test version for some Samsung Galaxy smartphones on 29 August 2014.[14] The app was made available for download from Samsung's Galaxy App Store on 8 October 2014.[15] It was simultaneously launched for the Samsung Gear S smartwatch.[16] The first public release of the beta Here app (across all Android platforms) was on 21 October 2014, as an APK download from the HERE.com Web site.[17] The app became available in the Google Play store on 10 December 2014. On 12 February 2015, a stable version of HERE Maps was released on the Google Play store.
The website wego.here.com (formerly here.com) evolved out of the maps.ovi.com and later maps.nokia.com site and provides the web companion to the HERE suite. It works on all major browsers. Users can organize their favorite places in collections and sync to mobile devices. The Web application also uses WebGL to offer 3D map views without a plugin. With 3D goggles, users can get stereoscopic views of 25 cities. It also provides detailed street-level imaging for many cities.[18] As of 2013, the website offers routing support between many waypoints, city pages of over fifty popular cities showing local time and weather conditions, along with information from Lonely Planet and suggested places, as well as 3D maps of 25 cities, including routing support.[19] [20] It also offers live traffic flow visualization, public transport search, and synchronization of user's points of interest (Collections) between the website and mobile devices. Additionally, it shows heat maps to visualize areas popular for food, nightlife, shopping and local sights in select cities, listing and managing businesses.[21]
On 9 July 2015, HERE launched a new public beta of its Android app.[22] As of June 2015, the Here app was available as a free app in 118 countries and territories across the world for the Android and iOS platforms.[23] On 3 September 2015, Here announced that its app would be available for the Samsung Gear S2 when the smartwatch was released later that fall.[24]
In late 2015, Facebook began using HERE's maps for their applications, moving away from Microsoft's map offering, Bing.[25]
In December 2015, Here, at the time a subsidiary of Nokia, was sold to a consortium of German automotive companies (Audi AG, BMW AG and Daimler AG) as Here Global BV.[26] [27] [28] [29]
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 would 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.[30]
On 27 July 2016, the mapping service was updated and re-branded to HERE WeGo. The update first launched on Android and was followed by an iOS version and a relaunch of the web version. The update and rebranding focused on navigation capabilities, including adding taxi fare information in some cities and integrating with Daimler's Car2Go service.[31] The Tizen smartphone and smartwatch apps were rebranded, as well.
In April 2020, HERE WeGo introduced CarPlay integration for iOS. The Android version was also published in Huawei AppGallery.
As a response to COVID-19 delivery tools demand, HERE WeGo Delivery[32] was launched.
Some features are available offline with a downloaded map, others require a data connection, and some require the user to be signed in.
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 used to predict the arrival time at the destination.[33]
Depending on the smartphone model, HERE WeGo provides pre-recorded navigation voices and text-to-speech commands with street names.
With internet access, public transport data is displayed by the Here app whilst planning a route for transport options such as buses, trams, subways, and trains. Walking[34] and cycling[35] routes are also supported. Time and distance estimates are provided for these modes, as well as driving navigation.
, HERE WeGo had real-time information on traffic conditions and incidents available for 63 countries.[36]
In late June 2015, HERE added real-time traffic for reversible express lanes across the United States and Europe.[37]
Users can save the location and details of destinations as 'Collections' if they are online and signed in.[38] It is not possible to store destinations offline, on the device. Location and destination can be shared with standard platform tools. there was no option to sort collections by name or distance in the Web, Android, and iOS versions.
HERE WeGo can download maps of countries and regions to internal storage so that a data connection is not needed for navigation. Online usage provides live traffic data and additional venue information.[39]
The maps include floor-by-floor details of large indoor venues such as shopping malls and airports.[40]
If a car is equipped with a CarPlay connectivity component, the HERE WeGo application on the iPhone can be projected to the car's in-dash navigation screen and controlled as any other built-in application. Since July 2022, the beta version of the android app is compatible with Android Auto,[41] working with an Android phone and a car equipped with an Android Auto connectivity component in the same way that the iPhone version.
There is a web page "HERE car drive schedule Drive schedule for our map data collection cars", with entries typically for the current and following month.[42]
Here WeGo is distributed on and freely downloadable from the Google Play Store, the iOS App Store, and the Galaxy Store.
Statistics published by HERE state that it reached one million downloads on the Android platform a couple of weeks after launch and, 12 weeks after its launch, reached 2.5 million downloads,[43] increasing to 3 million by mid-February 2015,[44] and to 4 million through the Google Play store alone by March 2015.[43] By 4 August 2015, Google Play downloads had increased to 5 million, and to 10 million by early 2016.[45]
Here was available on the Symbian^3 platform under the name Nokia Maps. The last version, 3.09, included:
Nokia said that the Nokia 808 from 2012 would be the last Symbian phone;[49] Symbian development then stopped. Accenture was responsible for the maintenance of Symbian and Nokia Maps until 2016.[48]
The supported phones were:
Maps for S40 were limited compared to other platforms. The maps were streamed online into the device or pre-downloaded with Nokia Suite. In some markets, the phones were sold with an SD card preloaded with local maps. The system did not support turn-by-turn navigation. Asha series phones did not have GPS receivers; positioning was done by Cell ID of the cellular network or by using the Wi-Fi positioning system.