Extension of end of life of predecessor versions of HERE Location Services

Dear Customer,

Thank you for being a valued and loyal customer of HERE Technologies!

We acknowledge that the upgrade process to our latest versions of HERE Location Services during the last six months has been a challenging ask for many of you, and we are grateful to those that have been able to find the time and resources to complete this effort already. But we are also cognizant of the need for more time for those that faced insurmountable challenges.

Therefore, as part of our commitment to the continued evolution of our strong business relationship, we are happy to notify you that we have extended the end-of-life of our old versions of HERE Location Services to ensure you have enough time to technically upgrade your applications with our latest set of HERE Location Services.

Upgrade from predecessor to new version, now!

If you are using any of the following HERE Location Services versions, we ask that you upgrade your application to the latest versions of the services, ideally prior to March 31^st, 2023:

_{¹ HERE Places (Search) API v2 will continue to be supported via redirection to GS7 Classic APIs (non-public APIs, running on GS7 infrastructure).}

Please keep an eye out for further announcements regarding the availability of the new service versions of the Map Tile and Batch Geocoder services.

Current HERE Places (Search) API v2 infrastructure will stop data and software updates after September 30^th , 2022 in accordance with the prior announcements. Customers and apps utilizing HERE Places (Search) API v2 will continue to be supported via GS7 Classic Search APIs (non-public APIs, running on GS7 infrastructure).

Any applications detected using the HERE Places (Search) infrastructure will be redirected to Geocoding & Search v7 Classic Search on December 01^st, 2022.

Who can upgrade later?

HERE Map Image API v1 is not yet scheduled for retirement and does not have a direct successor planned, but it is in maintenance mode. Therefore, we recommend you consider if the HERE Maps API for JavaScript v.3.1 or the soon-to-be-released Raster Tile API v3 may suit your use case in its place. If you are using the HERE Map Image API v1 with your existing application, then you may also continue to do so for the term of your present contract.

If you are using the HERE Premium SDK (3.x), we encourage you to upgrade your application to HERE SDK 4.x ideally prior to June 30^th, 2023.

Self-hosting

If you are using our HERE Location Services self-hosting packages, then you may continue to do so for the term of your present contract; but you are hereby notified that as of December 31^st, 2022, HERE will no longer be providing technical support and bug fixes for these old versions of HERE Location Services. The last software and map releases will be in November 2022, based on Q4-2022 software and data. Selected location services of the new generation Location Services are in the meanwhile commercially available for self-hosting. As an existing customer, you can also consider upgrading to those.

Timeline

As mentioned above, the predecessor HERE Location Services currently available on the HERE Developer Portal and hosted by HERE are targeted to be retired by April 01^st, 2023.

HERE Premium SDK (3.x) is superseded by new HERE SDK 4.x variants. The HERE Premium SDK (3.x) will be continued maintained with only critical bug fixes (no feature development or enhancements). We are targeting to phase out the HERE Premium SDK (3.x) by end of June 2023.

Please note: those new dates are targets, for now. We will ensure your upgrade experience and support with HERE is as smooth and good as possible. We will carefully monitor the progress. Please reach out to your HERE Partner Manager/HERE Account Executive if you would appreciate technical assistance on upgrading to the latest Location Service releases.

HERE SDK Lite Edition will be deprecated for iOS 16 and above starting in October 2022. This impacts only Apple devices running iOS. Lite Edition for Android devices will continue to be available.

Do you need further help?

For technical inquiries regarding the upgrade, please contact your HERE representative. We are more than happy to jointly look into the best upgrade options for you.

If you do not have an assigned Partner Manager or Account Executive, please reach out to us via StackOverflow.

If you have a paid support plan with access to the HERE Support Portal support.here.com/csm, please raise a support ticket. Our team will be happy to assist you.

Your HERE Partner Manager/HERE Account Executive, if they have not already done so, will be contacting you shortly to discuss your upgrade and any needs for support from our Professional & Technical Support team to facilitate your upgrade. For more information on the latest version of HERE Location Services, please refer to www.developer.here.com and work with your Partner Manager/Account Executive to get registered for our platform portal, on platform.here.com, today. They will be more than happy to support.

We hope you are as excited as we are about the next generation of HERE Location Services.

APPENDIX

With the new service framework in place, we are also on our way to delivering new functionalities that will only become available through the newly released HERE Location Services. We encourage you and your development teams to explore and evaluate our new HERE Location Services in order to become familiarized with the new features and functions they have to offer.

Check out the exciting new service releases already available or planned to become available soon:

• Vector Tile API v2: enables client-side map rendering and customization of map look and feel in conjunction with Maps API for Java Script v3.1.
  
  • Client-side map customization supported by the HERE map style editor. With this, the customer can adapt the map’s look and feel to better support their use cases
  • Client-side object identification to allow interaction with map content
  • Support for multiple political views
  • Reduced data transfer rate to produce high resolution maps

• Routing API v8: provides new modes and features such as:
  
  • Two-Wheeler routing using specific road segment and adopted speed profiles
  • Charge-aware EV routing finding fastest routes considering optimized charging stops
  • Taxi mode using taxi specific lanes and access regulations
  • Performance and quality improvements to core routing algorithm

• Matrix routing API v8: offers a unified routing service for all matrix sizes
  
  • Up to 10k x 10k elements (starting points x destinations)
  • Supports new routing modes:
    
    • Two-Wheeler
    • Bicycle

• Isoline routing API v8: offers a unified routing service for all Isoline options Supports new routing modes:
  
  • Two-Wheeler
  • Bicycle
  • EV range spider functionality

• Route Matching API v8:
  
  • Match GPS traces to the road network
  • Detect illegal maneuvers

• Waypoints Sequencing API v8:
  
  • Get the optimum sequence of a given set of waypoints based on time or distance

• Map Attributes API v8:
  
  • Retrieve core map attribute data in tiled layered format and add it to the responses from other Location Services

• Geofencing API v8:
  
  • Track positions of assets in relation to custom defined geometries

• Geocoding & Search v7: aligns former Geocoding and Places/Search APIs into one simplified API that integrates the features of both
  
  • Increased POI coverage by up to 50%
  • Fresher Places and address data due to a much higher update frequency
  • New feature - places geocoding: geocoding now recognizes POIs, matches them, and returns the address and a matching place, improving accuracy and match rate

• Public Transit API v8: enables improved functionality of Transit Routing and Next Departures features
  
  • Station Search now supports access points data, so it is possible to search for stations’ specific exits and gates (useful for pick-up or drop-off use case)
  • Provides new, improved iteration of Service Alerts feature

• Intermodal Routing API v8: brings several additional benefits:
  
  • The API now returns transit only and intermodal routes in one response, and are compared from a duration, number of transfers and cost perspective to provide the most effective commuting experience
  • Support for additional mobility modes - by integrating public GBFS (General Bikeshare Feed Specification) feed, which provides real-time information of hundreds of bicycle sharing systems around the world
  • Flexible combination of transit with micro-mobility options to cover first and last mile
  • Taxi/e-hailing mobility with integration of Lyft that allows intermodal combination of Taxi and Transit

• Traffic API v7: provides real-time traffic flow and incident information
  
  • Provides access to real-time traffic flow data in JSON, including information on speed and jam factor for the region(s) defined in each request. The Traffic API v7 can also deliver additional data such as the geometry of the road segments in relation to the flow.
  • Provides aggregated information about traffic incidents in JSON, including the type and location of each traffic incident, status, start and end time, and other relevant data. This data is useful to dynamically optimize route calculations.

• Network Positioning API v2:
  
  • Calculates location estimates based on the provided Cellular and/or Wi-Fi network signal measurements

• Maps API for JavaScript v3.1:
  
  • Seamless integration of all HERE platform services meaningful for web development
  • Rich format support to visualize custom data together with the HERE map
  • Advanced visualization and map editing capabilities
  • Run-time styling and map customization options

• HERE SDK 4.x (Lite, Explore and Navigate variants): HERE Premium SDK (3.x) is superseded by the new 4.x SDK variants.
  
  • The Explore variant provides powerful map rendering, search and routing functionalities for smartphones, tablets and embedded devices. SDK uses the latest platform location services such as Routingv8 and Geocoding & Search v7 for fresh content and the most up-to-date features.
  • The Navigate variant additionally supports turn by turn guidance, driver alerts and offline maps, allowing the use of HERE SDK without online connection.
  • Both the Explore and Navigate variants are available for iOS, Android and cross-platform development framework Flutter.
  • The Lite variant is intended to be used only with Android devices with basic hardware as it comes with reduced feature set compared to the Explore variant. Lite does not support Metal graphics drivers in iOS, so support for future iOS versions is not guaranteed.
    
    • Improved freshness: Software releases (SDKs) every 2 weeks (instead of quarterly)
    • Map compilations every week (instead of monthly)

All developer guides include a Migration Guide section that explains the changes to the previous versions.

All our customers can benefit from these new features and capabilities when accessing the newest versions of the HERE Location Services today. If you’re already using token or API key authentication, then no change to your access credentials is needed. If, however, you’re still using app_id and app_code, please check out the documentation posted at developer.here.com/documentation/authentication where you will find information on how to create and use new credentials.