HERE for iOS is here
by Volker Weber
HERE Maps/Drive/Transit has been one of my favorite app suites on Lumia. Then it became available on Metro, on Android and now I have it on the iPhone. Bliss!
It's defining feature is that you download maps to your device and use them completely offline. And updates are differential, unlike TomTom and other apps on iOS. You can get maps just for your state, for a vacation destination, and if you find yourself elsewhere, you can also use it online.
HERE gives you accurate live traffic information so you don't navigate through that traffic jam. It gives you instructions for your car, all the way down to turn-by-turn instructions. It tells you how to walk to your destination and what public transport is available. It will let you know discretely when to turn corners or exchange trains. In short: this is what I wanted on the iPhone. And now I have it. Hah!
It's an iPhone app, not an iPad app, at least my Testflight app is. Does not matter since I won't be fixing an iPad to my screen or run around with it in front of my head. It normally works in portrait, that's how you hold your phone, right? Drive also works in landscape, so you can fix your iPhone to your windscreen in that orientation. In my car I can put it on the center console like that.
Sign up for a HERE account and Here Maps will sync your collections of favortites between your apps and the website. You can add favorites in your browser and use them in your mobile.
Best of all, it's free.
Comments
Not available in Germany. Too bad.
It is available. I uninstalled my Testflight and installed it from the store.
Easy to install (in Germany) but immediately found the white spots (which are important for us) in East Asia. In addition other areas are available online - but not offline (e.g. Hong Kong)
maps.me has to take care of us there.
But if you are in Europe or North America it should be fine.
Works fine for me and I really like the UI.
What I strongly dislike is how fast HERE burns through data. Calculating a route from Venlo to Aachen resulted in 11 MB of (roaming) data traffic…
Guess I have to look into offline mode.
...though this thread is a few days already, I was facing the same issue like Jean-Pierre. Using HERE Drive on a three hours drive burned a lot of data.
When you switch to offline, you don't get any traffic information anymore - which makes navigation pointless. So, is there any way to combine offline maps with online traffic data?
So, far only Waze did a decent job in keeping me on the road and away from traffic jams.... Any ideas?
