HERE vs Google Maps
When comparing HERE vs Google Maps, the Slant community recommends HERE for most people. In the question“What are the best GPS navigation apps for Android?” HERE is ranked 2nd while Google Maps is ranked 9th. The most important reason people chose HERE is:
HERE maps allows users to download maps from more than 200 countries.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Wider availability of downloading maps from various countries
HERE maps allows users to download maps from more than 200 countries.
Pro Interactive 3D maps
There are interactive 3D maps for shopping areas and airports for 70 different countries around the world.
Pro Find places near you
You can find places to shop, eat, and almost anything with HERE.
Pro SD card support
Pro Voice-guided navigation
HERE has voice-guided turn by turn direction built into the app and is even usable when offline.
Pro Save maps for offline use
HERE allows users to save maps to their devices storage in order to allow offline usage of the app anytime.
Pro Has multilevel floor layouts for many airports and large shopping centers
Many airports and large buildings have an icon on them which, when tapped, opens up a 3D view of the floor plan with labelled locations of services, shops & transport etc. Includes an index for selecting each level of the building.
Pro Great smartwatch companion app
Excellent companion app allows navigation from your paired Samsung Gear S3 smartwatch. Has clear turn-by-turn instructions, vibration alerts at intersections, and zoomable location map (using rotating bezel). (Smartwatch app works with phone app and is not standalone).
Pro Includes public transport routing & schedules
Has train, ferry, bus etc. routes and schedules for many cities. The routes are overlaid on actual maps (spatially correct, vs the typical simplified diagrams of public transport networks) which I find reassuring and useful when exploring new locations. Also shows the schedules for next few services for any given station/stop. I'm not sure how accurate the schedules are though - they were incomplete for the small town where I live, but seemed more complete for major cities.
Pro Offline transit and walking directions
HERE is probably the only offline navigation app which has transit directions and walking directions when offline.
Pro Offline functionality
You can download offline data per city or parts of cities if you live in an especially large city, but not for states or countries. Points of Interests are generally more relevant & current than the typical stand alone GPS unit.
Pro Best execution of save location feature
Recent updates have made it so you can label a place instead of being stuck with some address or GPS coordinate and forgetting what it represents. Saved places show as stars and are all on one layer as long as you're logged in. There is also the ability to create maps (parallel to groups) for things you might not want to see or have show up all the time whenever you're using google maps from day to day.
This feature is highly helpful for planning, even if you're a person who likes to wing it.
Pro Find your parked car
You save the location of your car and easily find it again
Pro Accurate mapping
Pro Updated constantly
Nearby my house, there is major road construction in progress. Apple maps didn’t show this at all, but google maps did. There was also a new, small road that was finished around 3 days ago. Google maps shows this road. Apple maps still hasn’t shown the major construction.
Pro Most ubiquitous third party app integration
Asides from the stock Apple Maps app, Google Maps is the most commonly supported 3rd party map. 3rd party apps often have links for directions, Google Maps is usually an option whereas other 3rd party GPS apps are not.
Pro Navigation background change based on ambient light
This is great for night driving or even when going through tunnels as the map will be more visible for low light situations.
Pro Secondary routing
Google Maps can now search for and add a route for a second location on the way to the primary location that you are going to and have already routed. Note that it cannot do a third or true multi routing like the desktop webapp can.
Cons
Con GPS location is inaccurate
Con Map file size
Map downloads are huge in size, ranging from a few hundred megabytes, to a couple of gigabytes, depending on the size of the map being downloaded. Luckily, the app can be set to store them on external SD memory.
Con Does not provide lane guidance
Con No plan-ahead for commuters
Cannot plan trip ahead based on commuter lane.
Con Not very precise traffic information
Depending on a country information might not be very accurate for traffic.
Con Sometimes takes too long to load
Con Saved locations needs online connection and has no visible label
Two negatives about this feature is you have to be online to be able to save a place, but it is stored off line once google map gets on the net and syncs. The other negative is there is no visible label for saved places, you have to click on stars to see the label for them.
Con Maps saved offline can easily wipe your bandwidth cap via auto update
Google Maps offline maps update automatically in the background. Not a problem if you're using a sim card in your phone, but if you connect to a pre-paid hotspot that the phone recognizes and connects to as a wifi device you risk burning through your data allotment. The offline maps can be set to update manually, but this is not default behavior.