Big Tech is organizing to launch a completely free alternative to Google Maps
Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2025 8:48 am
Maps can describe virtual worlds, and many are wondering what ways of interacting with mapping can still be developed. While Google's control over its application, by definition, implies arbitrary choices and the impossibility of developing improved variants on its own. There is also the essential question of developing specialized maps for self-driving cars.
So many elements that require for some actors, the advent of albania mobile database open alternative, which would allow the greatest number to innovate, and thus open the next chapter of online mapping. A base that implies simplified access to data, and better interoperability. This is why Amazon Web Services (AWS), Meta, Microsoft and TomTom announce with the Linux Foundation the launch of Overture Maps Foundation .
To achieve their goals, the project's stakeholders will pool existing data and aggregate it with data from other open-source mapping projects like OpenStreetMap and freely available land registry data. The data will be fed with data derived from AI analysis. The project's stakeholders are actually pursuing four objectives:
Collaborating to build the next generation of mapping platforms
Develop a unified reference system – namely a system that simplifies interoperability between various services
Ensure data quality through a validation process, error detection and vandalism
Develop an open structured data format and push for its widest possible adoption
A project leader points out that Overture is more of a platform, an infrastructure, than a single mapping service: “You won't be able to log in and ask how to get from point A to point B.” Instead, multiple third-party services will be able to use this infrastructure to offer a variety of mapping applications, whether traditional (competing with Google Maps) or more innovative (for example, leveraging mixed reality).
So many elements that require for some actors, the advent of albania mobile database open alternative, which would allow the greatest number to innovate, and thus open the next chapter of online mapping. A base that implies simplified access to data, and better interoperability. This is why Amazon Web Services (AWS), Meta, Microsoft and TomTom announce with the Linux Foundation the launch of Overture Maps Foundation .
To achieve their goals, the project's stakeholders will pool existing data and aggregate it with data from other open-source mapping projects like OpenStreetMap and freely available land registry data. The data will be fed with data derived from AI analysis. The project's stakeholders are actually pursuing four objectives:
Collaborating to build the next generation of mapping platforms
Develop a unified reference system – namely a system that simplifies interoperability between various services
Ensure data quality through a validation process, error detection and vandalism
Develop an open structured data format and push for its widest possible adoption
A project leader points out that Overture is more of a platform, an infrastructure, than a single mapping service: “You won't be able to log in and ask how to get from point A to point B.” Instead, multiple third-party services will be able to use this infrastructure to offer a variety of mapping applications, whether traditional (competing with Google Maps) or more innovative (for example, leveraging mixed reality).