Mayor Rahm Emanuel today joined HERE Technologies, a global leader in mapping and location platform services, to announce Chicago as the company’s official headquarters for the Americas region. HERE will occupy a newly renovated office space at 100 North Riverside Plaza. HERE is one of the largest tech companies in Chicago, employing 1,200 staff in Chicago, and the new space has the capacity to grow to 1,400 employees.

“HERE could have chosen any city in the country as their Americas headquarters, but they chose Chicago because of the talent pool, infrastructure and stability our great city offers,” Mayor Emanuel said. “The HERE Americas headquarters will be a strong addition to Chicago’s business community, and we look forward to their continued long-term investment and job creation in Chicago.”

HERE delivers enterprise-grade location data, analytics and platform services. The company has built one of the world’s largest standard and high-definition (HD) mapping and location platform, which is used across industries to efficiently move goods, people and services. The HERE’s Chicago staff includes computer engineers, machine learning experts, data scientists and cartographers along with their senior leaders and sales and marketing teams. The new Americas headquarters, designed by the architecture firm Gensler, spans more than 275,000 square feet across eights floors and will allow the company to continue to grow.

“We are proud to invest in Chicago and designate our downtown office as our Americas headquarters,” said Angel L. Mendez, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of HERE Technologies. “We value Chicago for its tremendous workforce talent pool, domain expertise across industries and the city’s history of innovation in transportation and mobility. We look forward to furthering our position within the local tech community and giving back in meaningful ways to the communities in which we live and work.”

In addition to its downtown Chicago regional headquarters, HERE has recently invested in its Chicago garage facility where HERE True HD mapping vehicles are maintained and deployed. HERE True vehicles are equipped with the latest mapping hardware and software which produce the company’s centimeters accurate, 3D representation of the road environment. The HERE HD Live Map is utilized by the automotive industry as an essential technology for the overall safety and comfort of autonomous driving. The vehicle relies on the HD Live Map to localize itself on the road, as well as to better understand the road environment beyond the range of its near-field sensors for strategic path planning.

HERE is an active corporate citizen, engaged with civic and philanthropic organizations throughout Chicagoland. The company serves as a board member of City Tech, where it works with partners and the City of Chicago on real-world urban innovation pilots and smart city concepts. HERE is also a member of the Mayor's Mobility Task Force.

HERE is based in The Netherlands and backed by several investors, including Intel, Audi, BMW, Bosch, Continental, Daimler and Pioneer. The company operates in 55 countries has more than 9,000 employees globally.

About HERE Technologies
HERE, the Open Location Platform Company enables people, businesses and cities to harness the power of location. By making sense of the world through the lens of location we empower our customers to achieve better outcomes – from helping a city manage its infrastructure or a business optimize its assets to guiding drivers to their destination safely.

To learn more about HERE, including our new generation of cloud-based location platform services, visit http://360.here.com and www.here.com.