HERE Drive+ will be free for everyone with Window Phone 8.1 on their smartphone, a great bonus for those who often drive outside their home country.

And Windows Phone 8.1 also brings some highly requested new features to HERE Maps, HERE Drive+ and HERE Transit.

Windows Phone 8 has been always the best location-enabled mobile OS because it leverages the capabilities of the HERE platform. We like to call it a ‘hybrid platform’ because it can work both online and offline, automatically choosing the right connection at the right time.

You can experience the power of the HERE platform when you use our apps such as HERE Maps, HERE Drive+ and HERE Transit, obviously, but also when you use other, location aware apps, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and more.

Also Windows Phone 8.1 is powered by HERE, but we wanted to make it even better for a mobile lifestyle. This is why we extend the benefits of free voice guided car navigation in 97 countries to everyone. No matter whether you have an entry-level Nokia Lumia 520, a Samsung Ativ S or a HTC 8X, with Windows Phone 8.1 you get HERE Drive+ for free, saving up to €35.

Analogously, HERE Transit is now also free for everyone, even if you don’t have a Nokia Lumia.

HERE Maps, HERE Drive+ and HERE Transit updated

While this is already great news, we also spent some time making HERE Maps, HERE Drive+ and HERE Transit better.

First of all, we updated the way you see our maps in all apps. In select countries you can see buildings in 3D, in addition to realistic 3D landmarks that help you orientate yourself in a city. We also have updated aerial images so that you can zoom in even more and see more details.

In HERE Maps you can now use two fingers gestures to rotate the map in the direction you prefer and tilt it to activate the 3D mode.

We also added a highly requested feature to HERE Drive+: you can now long press anywhere on the map to set your destination.

All these updates will be automatically available when you install Windows Phone 8.1: are you going to upgrade?

image credit: Ernest