HERE at 40: 4 decades, 5,930 patents, infinite possibilities

"One day, I realized we weren’t in the business of just providing hardware for navigation anymore. We were in the database business, the mapping database business. That was the secret sauce."

This pivotal realization by Barry Karlin, co-founder of Karlin & Collins, Inc., marked the beginning of an extraordinary transformation. What started as a company focused on advancing navigation technology evolved into HERE Technologies, a global leader in location intelligence.

Barry’s insight wasn’t just a turning point for the company–it set us on a path that, over the last 40 years, has seen HERE file an astonishing 5,930 patents, each representing a fresh question, a new solution, and a bold step forward in advancing location technology.

Making our mark

The following patents are just a few examples of how our inventions have changed the way we understand and interact with location data:

Online Route Guidance (Patent 5,543,789)

Back in 1994, before smartphones or ubiquitous GPS, HERE filed a patent for what would eventually transform into today’s online navigation systems. With this invention, users could request real-time route guidance from a central server, and the information would be sent back to their device. 

Today, this concept seems commonplace, but at the time it was revolutionary. “This patent gave us the ability to offer online navigation guidance long before it was standard,” Adil Musabji, HERE Director of IP told HERE360. “It paved the way for dynamic updates and real-time directions that are now everywhere.”

Building Hyper-Accurate Maps (Patent 5,999,878)

By 1999, HERE was setting new standards in mapping accuracy. Filing a patent for using vehicle-based GPS systems to precisely map roads, HERE stepped into a new era of data collection. This innovation was the backbone of HERE True cars, our fleet of high-tech mapping vehicles used for building high-definition maps.

“Back in the day, we used to rely on pen and paper or simple GPS points,” said Musabji. “But HERE True cars were a giant leap forward and brought us closer to the centimeter-level precision required today for autonomous driving. It was a game-changer for anyone aiming to build HD maps.”

Electronic Horizon (Patent 6,405,128)

This patent, granted in 2002, introduced the idea of using map databases to predict what’s ahead on the road. With applications ranging from adaptive cruise control to collision warnings, this technology became a keystone for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). “The Electronic Horizon concept is huge,” said Musabji. “It’s essentially about letting vehicles ‘see’ the road ahead and make intelligent decisions. Think of it as a safety net built on real-time location data.”

Driving progress

These patents only scratch the surface of HERE Technologies’ rich innovation history. But what comes next is just as exciting. For example, a more recent HERE patent grant focuses on providing dynamic range data for an EV based on predicted weather data of future locations along a route (see Patent 10,859,391). 

“Patents are about looking ahead,” said Musabji. These aren’t just ideas; they’re solutions for problems people don’t even know they’ll face yet.”