Looking Back at the First-Ever HERE Berlin Hackathon

HERE Berlin Hackathon Review

On April 10, we hosted the first-ever HERE Technologies Hackathon in Berlin, bringing together seven student teams from eight different universities, joined by two Event Partners—Siemens and VMZ.

Kickoff at HERE Berlin Hackathon, April 10.

What’s more exciting and engaging for technical minds than a challenge to make better maps?

Students from diverse technical backgrounds and varying levels of GIS experience came together to innovate around the idea of improving maps — both in concept and in practical execution. It was fascinating to watch how teams tackled the challenge during the ideation phase. To come up with solid ideas, they had to understand not only map-making concepts and current solutions, but also the services dependent on map data—and the challenges those services aim to solve.

Teams deep in ideation, exploring how to improve mapping.

Some teams focused directly on map data enrichment, working to enhance both quantity and accuracy. They scraped the web for Points of Interest (POIs), analyzed satellite imagery of construction zones, and even collected Point Address data using mobile devices—reminiscent of the early days when we started drawing the HERE map in digital form. They compared their findings against HERE’s existing data, ran quality checks, and highlighted areas for improvement.

Honestly, I’m a big fan of this collect → compare → integrate → repeat cycle. It aligns perfectly with the principle that reality constantly evolves—and so should its digital representation.

Other teams focused on map services — especially navigation and routing. Some analyzed accident data to alert drivers about high-risk areas, while others explored elevation and slope data to enhance urban mobility solutions.

“It’s inspiring to see students dive into geolocation challenges with such creativity. Despite tight timelines, several teams stood out and truly earned their prizes.”

Ivo Kuzmanovic

Director Professional Services at HERE

As always, picking the winners was tough. That’s why we assembled a panel of six judges to help make the call. Each team had 10 minutes to pitch their project, followed by 5 minutes of Q&A.

Judging panel in action during the final pitches.

"It was awesome to be a part of the hackathon and be on the judges panel. The ideas were impressive, everyone was enthusiastic and contributed to a very well run event. It’s great to see such engagement from HERE, especially as a trusted technology partner."

Alessandro Guttenberg

Technical Product Manager at Siemens

After two hours of presentations and a heated 30-minute discussion, we selected the winning team, who impressed us with a solution that predicts urban area expansion using a linear regression model.

Winners impressing the judges with a prediction model for urban expansion.

Winners together with judges.

Congratulations to the winners! And to all the participants—we hope you had a blast and walked away with fresh insights into the world of mapping.