HERE

HERE
Name	HERE
Type	Private
Industry	Mapping, Location-based services
Founded	1985 (as Navteq)
Headquarters	Amsterdam, Netherlands
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Edzard Overbeek, Björn Witteveen, John Sleeman
Owners	consortium (Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Bosch), later ventures

Contents

Overview
History
Products and Services
Technology and Data
Business and Partnerships
Privacy and Regulations
See also

HERE

HERE is a multinational company specializing in digital mapping, location-based services, and geospatial data platforms. It provides mapping, navigation, real-time traffic, and location intelligence to automotive manufacturers, technology firms, logistics providers, and governments. The company operates global mapmaking operations and partners with major Audi, BMW, Daimler members, as well as cloud and software firms such as Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, and Google competitors.

Overview

The company offers vector maps, raster maps, 3D map layers, real-time traffic, public transit, and place databases used by clients including Uber Technologies, Apple Inc. rivals, Microsoft Corporation, Amazon.com, Inc., and automotive original equipment manufacturers like Ford Motor Company, General Motors, and Toyota Motor Corporation. Its platform supports navigation for consumer devices, fleet telematics for DHL, FedEx, and UPS, and infrastructure projects with municipalities such as City of Amsterdam. Key offerings compete with products from TomTom NV, Mapbox Inc., and Esri.

History

The company's origins trace to the 1980s mapping initiatives in the United States and Europe, evolving through acquisitions and rebrandings involving firms like Navteq and other location-data specialists. It expanded during the 1990s and 2000s alongside the rise of in-car navigation systems in vehicles produced by Volkswagen Group, Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance, and luxury brands including Volvo Cars. Strategic ownership shifts involved corporations and sovereign investment vehicles; notable transactions included bids and sales involving Silver Lake Partners, KKR & Co. Inc., and consortium formations among Audi, BMW, and Daimler AG. The company adapted to smartphone proliferation with APIs and SDKs used by developers at Foursquare, Yelp, and large-scale platforms developed by Tencent.

Products and Services

Products include HERE Maps SDKs, HERE WeGo navigation, HERE Location Services, routing and geocoding APIs used by enterprises like Siemens, Bosch, and Continental AG. Fleet and logistics solutions integrate with telematics providers such as TomTom Telematics partners and enterprise resource planning systems from SAP SE. The company supplies map tiles and map updates for in-dash systems in vehicles from Mercedes-Benz, BMW M GmbH, and Audi AG models, and offers place and search databases leveraged by travel services like Booking Holdings and ride-hailing platforms like Lyft, Inc..

Technology and Data

Mapping technology leverages satellite imagery from providers like DigitalGlobe counterparts, probe data from connected vehicles supplied by automakers including Nissan Motor Co. and Hyundai Motor Company, and crowd-sourced edits similar to initiatives by OpenStreetMap communities. The platform employs machine learning techniques comparable to research at MIT, Stanford University, and corporate labs at Google DeepMind for map conflation, lane-level routing, and real-time incident detection. Autonomous driving partnerships involve sensor fusion and high-definition map formats that interface with systems from NVIDIA Corporation, Intel Corporation (including Mobileye), and tier-one suppliers such as Denso Corporation.

Business and Partnerships

Strategic alliances span the automotive sector—Audi, BMW, Daimler AG—and cloud providers like Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, and Google Cloud Platform competitors. The company licenses data to technology platforms including Apple Inc. alternatives and collaborates with transportation agencies, logistics firms like Maersk, and smart-city projects in cooperation with organizations such as Siemens AG and Thales Group. Joint ventures and investment rounds have involved private equity firms like Silver Lake Partners and sovereign investors in deals alongside automotive conglomerates.

Privacy and Regulations

Operations intersect with regulatory frameworks including the General Data Protection Regulation enforced by authorities in European Union member states, and national privacy statutes in jurisdictions such as the United States and Japan. Data handling practices are shaped by compliance requirements from agencies like the European Commission and standards bodies including ISO. The company implements anonymization and aggregation to meet rules similar to those applied to location platforms used by firms such as Facebook, Inc. and Twitter, Inc..