About this edition

The HERE SDK for Android (Explore Edition) features the HERE Rendering Engine that offers visually appealing true 3D maps and a smooth map experience that is highly customizable. In comparison to the Navigate Edition, the Explore Edition does not provide additional premium features such as turn-by-turn navigation, offline maps, HERE positioning, or private indoor maps.

Feature list

At the time of writing, version 4.15.3.0 is the latest release of the HERE SDK for Android (Explore Edition), which includes:

Latest map data from the HERE platform for more than 190 countries with weekly map updates. Resource-friendly vector tile map rendering. 2D / 3D rendering including extruded buildings, carto POIs and more. Highly customizable map styles, including predefined styles such as normal street map and satellite map. Support for custom raster layers from external sources. Support for all common map interactions and gestures (including pan, flick, and pinch zoom). Pickable overlay objects on the map such as polylines, polygons, circles, arrows, images, and routes. Pickable preconfigured and embedded POI objects (carto POIs) on the map such as public transit stations, restaurants, ATMs and other facilities. Attachable native Android views as map pins. Highly customizable 2D and 3D map marker support (including anchor points, metadata and clustering). Animation support for 2D map markers. Metadata support for map items (for example, to identify search results on the map). Support for geopolitical views and disputed borders (beta).

Search through a broad set of geographical content across the globe (including streets, address points, categories, and places). Search the vast HERE database by Place ID. Request search results filtered by country in your preferred language. Access localized details for a Point of Interest (POI). Enhance the search experience with auto suggestions. Perform geocoding and reverse geocoding lookups. Search along a route. All address details are already localized and can be accessed in various languages.

Embedded support for instant visualization of traffic flows on the map. Embedded support for instant visualization of traffic incidents on the map. Query detailed and localizable information on local traffic incidents such as accidents, construction works, road closures, and more. Search for traffic along a route.

Online car routes. Online truck routes with highly customizable truck options. Online taxi routes. Online pedestrian routes. Online bicycle routes. Online public transit routes with highly customizable transit options. Online routes for electric vehicles to find the nearest charging stations (based on the calculated energy consumption and battery specifications). Online scooter routes. Online bus routes. Specify preferred route type (fastest or shortest) and route options (such as speed profiles, route restrictions, vignette options, and more). Calculate traffic-aware routes indicating potential traffic delay times, as well as traffic-optimized routes to avoid traffic. Get traffic flow information along the individual sections of a route. Get possible toll costs along the individual sections of a route (Beta). Customizable route shapes utilizing different types of waypoints. Localized maneuver instructions are available for each route. Alternative routes. Customization options to avoid areas, zones and road features such as tunnels, and more. Optional waypoint ordering to support the travelling salesman case. Import routes from other APIs and vendors.

Minimum requirements

• The minimum API level supported by the HERE SDK for Android is API 21, Android 5.0 (Lollipop), which allows you to reach more than approximately 90% of all Android devices on the market.
• Java and Kotlin are both supported. The HERE SDK provides Java interfaces, thus the examples are given in Java, but can be converted to Kotlin seamlessly if you prefer.
• The HERE SDK supports AndroidX, but it is not a requirement. You can still use the original Android Support Library.
• The accompanying example apps require Android Studio Dolphin | 2021.3.1 Patch 1 or higher.
• For minimum and recommended device hardware specifications, please check the section below.

Supported devices

Most devices that are from 2015 or newer are supported. Only in rare rases such devices may not work - for example, when they do not meet the minimum device specifications (see below). Devices that are older than 2015 may still work, but are not guaranteed to work.

• The HERE SDK for Android supports Android 32-bit devices with x86 or ARMv7 architecture and 64-bit devices with x86_64 or ARM64/v8 architecture.
• Additional requirements:
  • Support for OpenGL ES 3.0 or higher (applies also to emulators).
  • Minimum supported hardware specifications:
    • RAM: At least 1 GB memory.
    • ROM: At least 60 MB free disk space for the uncompressed installation size.
    • GPU: All GPUs that support OpenGL ES 3.0.
  • Recommended hardware specifications:
    • RAM: At least 3 GB memory.
    • ROM: At least 60 MB free disk space for the uncompressed installation size plus 256 MB to cache map data (plus enough free disk space to operate the device in general).
    • GPU: We recommend at least an Adreno 4xx, Mali T7x or G7x graphics processing unit or newer.

In general, when building a complex mobile application be mindful with the devices's resources and, for example, try to profile the memory consumption of your app to detect potential leaks.

Where to start?

If you are interested in building your first app showing a HERE map, have a look at our Get Started section to guide you through the first simple steps.

A quick overview of the main concepts and conventions can be found here.

Additional resources:

• In the examples section, you can find the links to our example applications that accompany this user guide.
• The API Reference can be found in your downloaded SDK package or on here-tech.skawa.fun.
• Consult the coverage page to get detailed information on supported countries and languages per feature.
• If you are planning to migrate your app from another HERE SDK edition to the Explore Edition or Navigate Edition, consult the Migration Guide.

For errors or suggestions related to this documentation, please open an issue on GitHub.

Legal and privacy requirements

The use of the HERE SDK for Android is governed by the terms and conditions which you have accepted separately, either when signing up via the here-tech.skawa.fun portal or otherwise executing an agreement with HERE. For your use of the documentation presented on this website, these terms apply.

In addition to the above terms, the following shall apply: Components of the HERE SDK for Android collect certain information from your application. Such information includes access credentials (access_key_id, access_key_secret – see also Authenticating Applications) and the types of features utilized by your application when used by end users. The information does not identify an individual end user. However, your application's privacy policy must disclose to the end users that you have licensed products and services from HERE, that such information is collected from your application as it is being used by end users, and that HERE collects and processes such information from the application.

Data privacy is of fundamental importance to HERE and our customers. We practice data minimization and don’t collect data we don’t need. And we promote pseudonymity for data subjects wherever a service does not require personal information to function. We employ privacy by design in services we develop. We strive to go beyond mere regulatory compliance and make privacy an integral part of our corporate culture. We believe that our approach to privacy is vital to earning and retaining the trust of our customers – and the bedrock of our future success as a data-driven location platform.

For more information on how data privacy is of fundamental importance to HERE and our customers, see the HERE Privacy Charter .

Open source software notices

If you use the HERE SDK for Android in your application, you must embed the HERE copyright and various open source software licenses or link to a copy hosted on your project's webspace. You can find a copy of these licenses in the HERE_NOTICE file, which is included in your HERE SDK package.