HERE offers location services for Microsoft Azure customers

Microsoft Azure customers now have access to HERE Location Services within its self-hosted Azure environments. HERE is providing a new set of application programming interfaces (APIs) for developers to build location-aware applications.

Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing service for building, testing, deploying and managing applications and services through Microsoft-managed data centers.

According to HERE, HERE Location Services such as Routing, Geocoding and Map Tiles APIs offer developers useful tools while ensuring high performance for an application’s most critical processes.

Software developers rely on the accuracy and scale of HERE Location Services to incorporate core location-oriented components into the enterprise-grade applications they build and manage, the company said.

The HERE Location Services available for self-hosting in Azure Virtual Machine environments are:

• Routing – provides access to and use of global, real-time and historical traffic information.
• Forward Geocoder and Reverse Geocoder – provides comprehensive coverage in 196 countries and several territories with a high-precision mapping of geo-coordinates or addresses.
• Map Tiles – shows fresh day-time map tiles in multiple styles (for example, base and aerial) including rendered live-traffic tiles for flow overlay.

Applications for HERE Location Services include the following.

Fleet management and emergency services

• Create safe and efficient routing solutions for multiple vehicle types
• Provide the most efficient routing options based on real-time traffic conditions

Seamless mobility

• Provide routing options for pedestrians and public transportation
• Help cities run more smoothly with improved traffic flow and transportation network usage

Business intelligence:

• Understand trends and behavior of citizens in relation to their location and mobility patterns
• Understand shifting market dynamics to inform real-estate investments
• Verify insurance claims and authenticate transactions

HERE Location Services are available to Azure customers who want to manage and deliver highly available location-based services. The self-hosted architecture ensures maximum availability and resiliency for Azure customers running critical business applications that rely on “always-on” location services.

“Location anchors our connected world and HERE Location Services enable industries to solve complex challenges while delivering valuable new products and experiences,” said Mithun Dhar, General Manager, Developer Relations at HERE Technologies. “Demands on business require flexibility in software architecture, and HERE is proud to offer robust and high-quality location services to customers operating across public cloud, self-hosted or hybrid environments.”

HERE Location Services are also available as Serverless Functions on the Azure Marketplace. For the latest Azure developer content, go to HERE | Azure Marketplace.