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Despite how much the Windows Phone’s app library has grown in recent years, there are still several essential apps that remain absent from the ecosystem such as the incredibly solid Google Maps. Without Google Maps on Windows Phone, several app developers have attempted to take advantage of its absence with their own navigational and traffic-related apps. While none have come close to matching Google Maps in terms of accuracy and sheer data content, some such as those designed by HERE, have come close.
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HERE produces several apps for Windows Phone (which admittedly are also on iOS and Android) that focus on travel. HERE City Lens acts as a sort of business discovery app while HERE Drive + offers offline turn-by-turn navigation. The two most popular apps though are HERE Maps and HERE Transit which, as you can probably guess, provide maps and public transport information in a similar fashion to Google Maps.
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HERE’s transport database isn’t as comprehensive as Google’s (for example, businesses are occasionally placed blocks from where they really are on the map and entire bus routes are missing) but it is constantly being updated with more accurate information and new features.
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One of the latest new features to be added to HERE’s apps is the addition of reversible lanes data, something no other digital service currently features. Reversible lanes are a feature of several large cities around the globe, often used to reduce congestion during the morning or evening rush hour. Basically the direction of these select lanes can be switched depending on the volume of traffic and HERE’s apps will now update with this information in real-time and will cover all reversible lanes in the U.S. and Europe.
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This data will also be available for apps that use HERE’s API such as Bing Maps. Which map and traffic apps do you use on Windows Phone? Which ones don’t you use? Share your recommendations with us and other WinBeta readers in the comments!
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\n\nFurther reading: Google Maps, HERE, HERE Drive+, HERE Maps, Here Transit, Microsoft, Windows Phone, Windows Phone apps