
Nokia 'Here Map' arrives at the App Store - Libertatea
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/here-maps/id577430143?mt=8
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mjs
Much better than Apple Maps, but still:

* The Hayward Gallery is in the wrong place: [http://here.net/united-kingdom/london/museum/hayward-gallery...](http://here.net/united-kingdom/london/museum/hayward-gallery--826gcpuq-b9a7bec242fe48ccac0d273c98487159) * Searching for "Dover Castle" goes to the Castle in Dover rather than the pub <500m away. (There is a drop-down list which has the match I want, though.)

And the non-Retina resolution tiles are annoying. Do Nokia's high-resolution
phones get the same tiles?

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weiran
How is it much better than Apple's maps app? It's just a thin wrapper over
Nokia's web site (here.net), and for my location the data is worse and there's
no satellite imagery at all. Directions are far more limited (public transport
routing isn't even available in the UK) and the UI completely unintuitive (how
do I start a route?)

I would welcome a superior maps app to Apple, however just putting a thin
wrapper over your existing website isn't going to cut the mustard compared
with a slick and native app like Apple's. I'm not sure even Google can match
Apple's maps experience, although their superiority with data will make the
bigger difference.

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mdasen
_how do I start a route?_

This bugged me for a while until I realised that they don't do driving
navigation. There's a purple button with an arrow (play button) when you're in
walking mode that lets you start voice navigation. It's very disappointing.

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mtrimpe
Let's hope Google Maps for iOS will be released soon now.

I had trouble not chuckling at Google _not_ releasing it after the Maps
debacle, but fundamentally I think it's doing a disservice to the Google brand
and it's customers in general.

~~~
Tyrannosaurs
Supposedly it wasn't ready.

The Apple / Google maps deal had a year or so still to run so apparently
Google were taken by surprise that Apple pulled the existing app when they
did.

~~~
wukkuan
Do you happen to have a source for this? I've always heard (via offhand
comments, admittedly) that the deal was done and Google wasn't surprised.

~~~
Tyrannosaurs
Nothing categorical and to be honest I'm not sure I buy it 100%.

The timing of dropping Google maps makes sense - Apple are on an annual
upgrade for iOS. If the choice is to launch their own maps 14 months before
the end of the deal or 2 months before the end of the deal 14 months makes
sense so you've got a fall back.

And if it makes sense then it seems sensible that Google who had all the
information and knew of the animosity would be able to work it out.

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nachteilig
I really wanted to like this, but Google is still tops for its location
database. Maybe Nokia and the other non-Google players can band together to
address this, because I don't see how anyone will catch up otherwise.

It's also strange to me that this is the case, because if they're using FedEX
and UPS data you would think that would be a superior location data mining
operation.

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mamp
Interface is a bit rough and appears rushed - hard to tap on some targets,
keeps resetting to current location when moving in and out of the app. The
live traffic information doesn't seem as up to date as Apple Maps. Nice to
have actual locations available compared to the sparse Apple Maps.

~~~
edgeman27
Agreed. The entire map view (including location dot, paths and markers) seems
to be rendered in half resolution on Retina devices.

Public transport in London seems to work very well, and the Underground
overlay is a nice feature. I will be using this for the time being.

~~~
snuze
How did this get past QA? It looks terrible on any retina device (every Apple
flagship).

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rwbt
I like 'Nokia Maps' much better than 'Here'.

~~~
mtgx
Yes, it's pretty terrible branding, especially for non-English countries.
Nokia Maps was much better. I don't know why they felt the need to change it.
Just to get a few more articles in the press about it?

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0x0
This one actually has poorer satellite imagery than Apple Maps where I live.

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symmetricsaurus
It's quite quick on my iphone 4 but the actual maps are blurred. It would seem
that they are rendered at the "old" iphone resolution. This gives the app a
very unpolished look unfortunately.

~~~
greenmountin
Yeah, it's blazing fast for me; I don't understand the hate in the other
comments. Unlike Bing maps, getting directions is intuitive for me, and I
couldn't care less about satellite imagery. If caching works at all, this will
be a useful app. Guess I will have to give it a week or so for evaluation,
though.

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panacea
Does this have better local data in areas where Apple's mapping app is
lacking? I ask, because where I live, this is actually bolstering the case for
the new iOS mapping service.

~~~
snuze
In my area, Apple Maps has better local data.

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aes
On an iPad, the experience seems to be identical to using <http://here.net/>
in Safari. So this is not particularly big news.

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robmcm
Doesn't look like they are using vectors and there is no inertia when zooming.
Perhaps features they are saving for the Nokia phones...

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jarcoal
That interface looks like MapQuest ten years ago. Completely unacceptable.

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pixelcort
Looks like the streets in Tokyo are missing.

