Nokia Amber allows HERE Maps to update individual streets

File this under 'mildly interesting'. Recently, Nokia pushed out updates for their HERE Maps offline data. Initially thought to be a US only update it became obvious through comments that the update was in fact, global. We pointed out that in our case, three states added up to a 53 MB update, which was much smaller than the initial maps download.

As it turns out, we weren’t imagining things. Nokia’s Pino Bonetti let us know that since the Amber update, the HERE Maps team can in fact update just individual streets instead of having to re-download the entire map for the state or region.

Although it may seem like a minor change, for those without access to Wi-Fi or who are on metered-connections it makes a big difference. Let’s be honest, having to re-download entire maps for what could be some minor adjustments wastes everyone’s bandwidth (and time), so it’s great to Nokia be able to deliver specific and isolated map updates direct to HERE users. After all, it’s the little things that go a long way.

Source: @haikus

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central. He is also the head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007 when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and wearable tech. He has reviewed laptops for over 10 years and is particularly fond of 2-in-1 convertibles, Arm64 processors, new form factors, and thin-and-light PCs. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, performed polysomnographs in NYC, and was a motion-picture operator for 17 years.