UPDATED 23:51 EDT / JULY 28 2016

NEWS

HERE Maps rebrands as HERE WeGo, adds new route planning features

HERE Maps, considered by many to be the only serious rival to Google Maps, will no longer be known as “Maps” after deciding to rebrand itself.

As of today, the app will now be known as HERE WeGo. The company said the rebranding reflects its greater emphasis on directions and route planning, with an emphasis on walking, car sharing, public transport and taxis, as opposed to Google’s more consumer-oriented model. It comes after the app was acquired just under a year ago from its original owner and creator Nokia Oyj by a consortium of German car makers, including Audi AG, BMW AG and Mercedes’ parent company Daimler AG.

Along with the new name, HERE WeGo also gets some nice new navigation options. As soon as you open up the app, it greets you with a “Where to?” question in the search bar at the top of the screen. Type in a destination, select your mode of transport, and it instantly finds the best route for you. HERE WeGo’s team said in a blog post this eliminates the extra click needed to “find a route” that was present in the older app, at the bottom of the screen.

HERE WeGo also offers a new Route Comparison tool, which allows users to compare different transportation options. As well as the regular car, cycling, public transport and walking routes, the app has now partnered with car sharing firm Car2Go as a new option. This lets you find out where the nearest available rental car is, and how much you can expect to pay to reach your destination if you go with that option. It also lets you reserve a car right there and then, if you decided to go ahead.

The revamped app also lets users call a taxi from within the app itself, after assessing how much the fare and wait time will be. Sadly this feature is only available in some U.S. cities, though HERE WeGo says it will be “adding taxi information for more cities and more car sharing services” in a few months’ time.

The last major improvement pertains to HERE WeGo’s bicycle route features. The app now includes elevation profiles, which allow users to work out how hard a slog it’s going to be to get to their destination.

Apart from that it’s much the same. The main UI has changed little from the original, and the “Nearby” panel is still there too – which means you can easilt find ATMs, bars, restaurants, shops and other things if needed. Last but not least, the new HERE WeGo retains what was probably the best feature of HERE Maps – you can still download the entire world’s maps for offline use, whereas Google Maps still only allows a portion of them to be downloaded.


A message from John Furrier, co-founder of SiliconANGLE:

Your vote of support is important to us and it helps us keep the content FREE.

One click below supports our mission to provide free, deep, and relevant content.  

Join our community on YouTube

Join the community that includes more than 15,000 #CubeAlumni experts, including Amazon.com CEO Andy Jassy, Dell Technologies founder and CEO Michael Dell, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, and many more luminaries and experts.

“TheCUBE is an important partner to the industry. You guys really are a part of our events and we really appreciate you coming and I know people appreciate the content you create as well” – Andy Jassy

THANK YOU