How HERE SDK keeps drivers moving when connectivity drops

No signal, no problem: offline navigation for delivery fleets with HERE SDK

It’s peak season, late at night, and your delivery driver’s sat-nav suddenly loses signal. Sound familiar? 

In the Christmas rush, the last thing you need is a navigation blackout just because you’ve entered a rural ‘not-spot’ with no mobile coverage. Even as 4G reaches 95% percent of UK landmass, those remaining dead zones always seem to lie on critical routes. A farmhouse down a country lane, a pop-up depot in the hills, exactly where connectivity tends to fail when you need it most. 

HERE SDK is built for this exact scenario 

It’s a powerful mobile mapping toolkit that enables offline navigation, meaning your drivers’ app keeps working with or without a data connection. With HERE SDK integrated into your fleet’s custom app or device, maps and routes are stored on the device ahead of time. So, when your driver dips into a valley with zero bars of signal, their turn-by-turn directions and maps don’t miss a beat. No spinning wheel, no ‘reconnecting…’ error, just continuous guidance. 

The result? No lost drivers, no delayed parcels, and a lot less stress on Christmas Eve. 

Truck-specific routing, even offline 

Unlike generic navigation apps, HERE SDK’s routing engine is tailored for commercial vehicles. Your app can consider each truck’s dimensions, weight, and cargo (for example, hazardous materials) to avoid low bridges, narrow lanes, and restricted roads - all while offline. 

For example, if a forty-tonne lorry needs to reach a village shop, the offline map already knows to avoid the old stone bridge on the shortcut route. The driver automatically gets a safe, compliant route around it. This prevents costly accidents and fines. UK rail bridges are struck by HGVs over 1,500 times a year, roughly four times a day, often due to improper sat-nav use. 

With HERE SDK, you’re equipping your seasonal drivers with truck-appropriate navigation from the start, ensuring safety and legality on every journey. 

Customisable maps and branding 

Holiday operations often mean temporary depots, customer-specific drop points, or bespoke routes. With HERE SDK’s flexible map styling and custom layers, you can highlight your own points of interest (like that pop-up gift warehouse or designated lay-by for deliveries) directly on the map. 

You can even skin the map in your company’s colours or a Christmas theme, if that’s your thing. The important point is drivers see the information that matters to your business, reducing confusion. New recruits can quickly get up to speed by following a map that’s been tailored to your peak-season network. 

Built for developers, loved by drivers 

The HERE SDK integrates into Android or iOS apps with ease. It’s well documented and comes in multiple editions (Lite, Explore, Navigate) depending on your needs. 

For most logistics teams, the Navigate edition is the star: it includes offline navigation, voice guidance, traffic info, and all the advanced routing features. 

Developers appreciate the SDK’s flexibility, you can combine it with your databases, telematics data, and more, while drivers appreciate the intuitive, familiar feel of the maps on their device. 

In short, it lets you build your own ‘in-house maps’ but supercharged for logistics. 

Imagine empowering your Christmas fleet with an app that never leaves them hanging. 

A delivery to a remote Scottish Highland village? The driver’s phone smoothly transitions to offline mode, guiding them along the preloaded route. A last-minute address change while offline? The app can still find an alternate route on the device. Meanwhile, back at HQ, you’re not panicking about lost drivers. You have confidence that, online or offline, they have the guidance needed to get the job done. 

The takeaway 

HERE SDK ensures that connectivity hiccups never bring your holiday deliveries to a halt. It’s about reliability. When your brand’s reputation is on the line with every gift delivery, you want technology that’s robust under all conditions. By integrating offline-capable, truck-aware maps into your apps, you keep operations rolling smoothly through the most demanding delivery days of the year. 

Want to see HERE SDK in action? 

Get in touch with our mapping specialists. We’ll show you how easy it is to integrate HERE SDK into your driver app and unlock offline navigation and custom routing for your fleet. 

Don’t let no-signal zones derail your Christmas deliveries.