Nokia launches HERE Explore to help you find new places

Nokia has always been strong in mobile mapping. The HERE mapping platform powers not only Windows Phone 8 apps, but helps provide navigation services and location solutions for companies like Garmin, BMW, Oracle and Amazon. It’s a very valuable business unit for Nokia, which is why it’s not going to Microsoft. That said, it’s great to see the HERE team continuing to pump out solid progress on Windows Phone with cool new apps like HERE Explore. Let’s check it out.

First impressions of HERE Explore? It reminded us a bit of the built in Location Scout on Windows Phone 8, but it’s obviously a little more flushed out in features. HERE Explore is an app designed to help you find places based on a new contextual recommendation engine that Nokia has worked on. They say you can use it to find a late night snack, a scenic vista point, or any variety of potentially interesting places for you. Here are the features you get with HERE Explore:

• See recommendations based on where you are or where you want to go
• Search for places around you from a customizable list of categories
• Customize the app and make your favorite searches even quicker to access.
• See search results displayed in a list, on a map, or in LiveSight
• One-tap access to more place information, such as photos, reviews from trusted sources and contact information
• Add photos and reviews of places you’ve been
• Get drive, walk or public transport directions to a place
• Hold up your smartphone to see floating signs that show you where places are located and tap to see more about that place
• To remember and save places, add them to your own private collection

The app worked pretty well the few minutes we spent checking it out. Although we’re currently in Abu Dhabi and most of the locations were in Arabic. This definitely looks like a handy app to use for when you want to explore a new location. We’ll be using this tonight as we wrap up here Nokia World 2013 in Abu Dhabi.

Want HERE Explore? You’ll need a Lumia device and will want to go to the Windows Phone Store. You can also grab it by using the QR code below or swiping to the right in our app.

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