Microsoft allegedly taking over development of HERE Maps on Windows Phone from Nokia

[Windows Central]

It looks like Microsoft is taking over development of HERE Maps for Windows Phone from Nokia. The change comes after it was revealed that Nokia was looking to develop the client from the ground up for Android and iOS platforms.

Full story from the WindowsCentral blog...

 

[AluminiumRims]

There are already two maps programs in 8.1, Here maps and only "maps" and I guess only "maps" is the Microsoft version. Evidently Here maps is more feature rich and only "maps" is more basic. I regard this decision kind of bad because I see the risk that Microsoft will not be able to provide the full Here maps experience that will arrive on Android and iOS. It is even possible that some Microsoft manager lighthead will disable offline maps because some idiotic "cloud" strategy. Also will the maps be as fresh as from directly from Here maps?

 

[a5cent]

^ The maps will still come directly from HERE. No difference.

I find the article a bit confusing, as it talks about HERE maps, but the picture is of HERE drive. I hope it's about both.

Either way, I think this is exactly the right thing to do. I've mentioned many times in the forums how a consolidation and cleanup of the multiple "default" mapping apps on WP is long overdue.