It seems that Nokia is on a tear across the digital mapping industry. The recent launch of the Nokia 920 was a definite reminder of the company’s experience in creating great devices, and earlier this month the company drove a stake, or two, or three, in the ground of the virtual landscape, as if to remind us of the mapping and location-based data assets that are part of its Location and Commerce group.
Up until now, Nokia’s mapping work has largely focused on serving the owners of Nokia smartphones. But that all changed with the news that Nokia is developing a new cloud-based location service, appropriately named Here. They’re also developing Here apps for iOS, Android and the new Firefox OS. And finally, Nokia has created an API called LiveSight that lets developers connect their apps to all of the mapping and location-based data that’s being generated by Nokia’s fleet of location-based data collection tools, which includes the Navteq True Car and will soon expand as part of an expected acquisition of earthmine.
The video above gives you an idea of what’s possible with LiveSight, but to give you a sense of the entire landscape as Nokia sees it, check out the below video. It does a pretty good job of explaining where Nokia is headed, and how consumers and businesses could stand to benefit.
After watching it, one thing’s for certain: Nokia has a strong sense for the future of digital mapping, and they’re determined to make a mark on the landscape — both physical and virtual.
