Here beats Google as world’s leading location platform, says Ovum

Location Platform Index: Mapping and Navigation ranked 14 major location platform vendors according to their mapping and technology as well as the size of their reach across the developer communities and industries.  

Here’s Freemium model is intended to lower price barriers for developers by providing free access to 250,000 transactions per month, 5,000 software development kit active users and 250 managed assets per month. Developers who go over the transaction threshold are charged $1 per additional 1,000 transactions. Meanwhile, a Professional plan costs $449 per month and represents a discounted plan for developers likely to make less than 1 million application programming interface calls per month.

The study also highlighted Here’s work with regional partners NavInfo (China), Pioneer (Japan), and SK Telecom (South Korea) to form the OneMap Alliance. The group seeks to create a global standardised HD map offering and provide OEMs with an access source for harmonised HD maps.

According to the report, Here’s HD Live Map will cover more than one million km of road across North America and Europe by the end of 2018. It is also expected to provide information on configurations and markings, speed limits and shoulders as well as on roadside objects and obstacles via vehicle localisation.

Additionally, Ovum says Here’s increased indoor mapping capabilities will put the company in a strong position to exploit a range of potential use cases in consumer, enterprise and wider Internet of Things domains.

Ovum says Here’s OTA Connect could provide potential revenue streams by enabling customers to buy new services over-the-air (OTA). The solution is intended to provide OEMs with a fast and cost-effective way to remotely update software and firmware.  

Here’s solution uses the Uptane security framework for connected and autonomous vehicles which is backed by the US 1742 Department of Homeland Security. It is currently available as a standalone product but is intended to be integrated into Here’s suite of automotive software and platform services.

Other companies included in the ranking include TomTom, Apple Maps, ESRI, Mapbox, Comtech, Telenav, OSMF, Garmin, Magellan, AND, Bing (Microsoft) and MapQuest.

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