Nokia highlights how anonymous data collection helps improve HERE apps and services

Nokia has gone into some detail about how the company uses anonymous data collection from consumers who utilise its location services to help improve the overall HERE experience offered. A number of data sources are relied upon to maintain and update mapping, as well as innovative tools that can detect changes and trigger action points. Sounds like the creation of the Matrix, right?

Based on internal statistics, the blog post over on Nokia Conversations states that around 1 billion devices (smartphones, cars, computers, etc.) are using HERE services, which is what's helping the company shape its backend infrastructure, as well as improve the front-end experience to offer a top quality location service solution. This front-end what we all use and love on Lumia Windows Phones.

A team in Berlin has been making sense of data collected through HERE by visualising it on maps. The results are awesome.

WP Nokia HERE Hightlight

Data intensity displayed on a map of Los Angeles.

"More and more of our connected devices are able to sense the real world around us, taking the ‘personal’ to new levels," explains Nokia's Pino Bonetti. "Nowadays, every smartphone has GPS and other sensors to help integrate the real with the virtual world. This is why, to build our location services, we don’t just capture an index of streets, buildings and parks to create a rich model of the real world."

It gets even more advanced than that as the data collected from consumers can even help the teams understand how the population of larger countries are distributed. When you're connecting and using Nokia's HERE services on your Windows Phone, did you know that you're also informing the company which technology your device is utilising (GPS, Wi-Fi, Cell-ID)?

WP China Nokia HERE

All Windows Phones with language set to "Chinese" in Eurasia.

The results shared by Nokia are impressive. It's exciting to see data visualised on a map to see how and where the general public use their mobile devices. Here's what Nokia CEO Stephen Elop had to say when visiting the campus in Berlin:

"What was particularly exciting is that you could see a dramatic change over just a year’s time. Through this data, you could see a clear growth pattern for Lumia. Consumers are lighting up the world with Lumia, and the data is a powerful visualization of that momentum."

Be sure to check out the full article over on Nokia Conversations for more images and details.

Source: Nokia

Rich Edmonds
Senior Editor, PC Build

Rich Edmonds was formerly a Senior Editor of PC hardware at Windows Central, covering everything related to PC components and NAS. He's been involved in technology for more than a decade and knows a thing or two about the magic inside a PC chassis. You can follow him on Twitter at @RichEdmonds.