Some years seem to pass like a whisper in the wind, others parade through like a marching band on Main Street.

2018 was a year of strong change, to put it mildly. Transparency took hold as an imperative in business communications and consumer decision-making. Behind the scenes, location intelligence steadily raised the bar of precision and efficiency in the marketplace.

So looking back over the last twelve months, what were the biggest advancements and developments of 2018?

The Ovum Report

In their yearly report, research firm Ovum ranked HERE as the number one location platform in the industry, surpassing Google, MapBox and several other industry peers. We're proud to have reached this milestone, one we achieved through hard work from every aspect of our organization. In 2019, there's more hard work to be done.

Mobility means change for the better

Cities are growing more crowded, and they show no signs of stopping. Infrastructure planners are grasping the fact that future planning has to enable all residents across the full breadth of our cities. AI is playing a big part in planning city expansion in ways that ensure that the changes we make are for the better.

Ethical autonomy

When our vehicles take the wheel, they may be forced to make hard decisions. Germany became the world’s first government to ratify a set of ethical guidelines for how autonomous vehicles respond in a crisis situation. The key points prioritize human life over property without discrimination, and are set to be reviewed every 2 years.

Indoor maps

Digital outdoor maps are a way of life. That same level of detail and data-driven intelligence is coming inside. 2018 was a banner year for indoor maps, and we’ve developing the software and partnerships that enable high-precision maps of airports, office buildings, and entertainment venues.

The Freemium plan for developers

For the developer world, we’ve leveled our pricing tiers to make it simple and easy to start using our APIs and SDKs in any size project. Freemium is a complete overhaul of how we distribute our tools, providing developers with our entire API library and 250,000 monthly transactions, absolutely free.

XYZ Studio

If you want to create an application that uses location, it shouldn't be necessary to go back and get a degree in GIS and location data technology. HERE XYZ Studio makes it possible to create, manage and distribute custom map data for any level of technologist.

Privacy via federated learning

Personal location data is more available, and more valuable than ever – but it’s critical to respect individual privacy. In one of our most popular stories of the year, guest author Michael Sprague explains how Federated Learning can be used to retrieve valuable location data while ensuring personal privacy.

We're already lining up an exciting set of developments, features and tools to come in 2019. If you're at CES Las Vegas, come by and see us for a sneak peek at some of our latest developments. Thanks for reading, and have a very happy new year!

If you are attending CES 2019 in Las Vegas and you would be interested to schedule an on-site meeting with our experts to discuss your specific needs related to Location technology, you can request your meeting here.