Discover the world around you

HERE WeGo (also known as HERE Maps) is an iOS map application from Nokia, designed to help you find your way around very easily.

The format of HERE is much the same as Google Maps, or the default Apple Maps app included with the latest version of iOS. You peruse the world using your fingers to slide across maps and pinching to zoom in and out.

Different map views

As with Apple Maps, HERE includes standard map view, satellite view, traffic view, and also features a public transport view, which gives you a clear and accurate view of the important train and underground routes of a city.

Unlike Apple Maps, there’s no hybrid map/satellite view in HERE WeGo, and the 3D maps that feature in the HERE web application, don’t appear in this iOS version. There’s no street view either, which is a bit disappointing.

Places of interest

HERE WeGo displays places of interest such as shops, restaurants and bars, sights and public transport stations. You can view photos and information about these places, call the company with one tap, and share interesting places via email, messaging or social networks.

One neat feature of HERE WeGo is the ability to ‘collect’ places, building up a bank of your favorite locations which is stored on your Nokia account and can be accessed from any device or computer.

At the moment the amount of places – and the level of road detail – listed in HERE WeGo is very limited in comparison with Google Maps, or even Apple Maps. Hopefully, this will improve thanks to Nokia’s plan to crowdsource locations. Unfortunately, the map creator tool from the web version of HERE WeGo isn’t present in the app either, though.

Navigation features

Though the presentation isn’t as fancy as the turn-by-turn navigation in Apple Maps, getting directions through HERE is a clear and hassle-free process. Click on the ‘Route’ option and enter your start and destination points. You can get directions based on traveling by car, on foot, or via public transport (the latter isn’t supported by default in Apple Maps). An interesting inclusion is step-by-step audio instructions for pedestrians.

Another handy feature of HERE WeGo is the ability to save portions of a map to your device. Simply select the area you’re interested in and save it. You’ll then be able to browse and query this area while offline. This is useful for saving mobile data and accessing info in areas with limited coverage.

HERE WeGo offers a simple way to help you get from A to B and covers public transport very well. Unfortunately, it’s not as fully featured as the online version of HERE – and it still doesn’t perform as well as Apple Maps.