Meta, Amazon And Microsoft Release First Public Map Data, Ask Third Parties To Beat Apple-Google

The Overture Maps Foundation has just released its first open map dataset, which will help developers create mapping apps and other location-based tools, which are expected to align with Apple and Google.

The group founded by Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and mapping company TomTom last year, is a collaborative effort to enable open map products that can be operated now and in future generations.

The data includes 59 million attractive places, such as restaurants and landmarks, along with information about transportation networks and administrative boundaries. Data was collected and donated by Meta and Microsoft.

"This release is a significant step in building a comprehensive market-level open map dataset for our world which is constantly changing," said Overture Maps Foundation executive director Marc Prioleau in a statement, Thursday, July 27.

According to Prioleau, Dataset Places, in particular, represents a key open dataset that was previously unavailable, with the potential to map everything from big and small new businesses to street markets located anywhere in the world.

Anyone who works in the mapping field knows that initial data is just the beginning. The ongoing challenge lies in data maintenance in the midst of constant changes to meet user expectations. Overture's plan to build broad collaborations that can build and maintain a comprehensive and up-to-date POI database," Prioleau explained.

The Overture Maps Foundation already has more than a dozen merged mapping, geospatial, and technology companies, including new ESRI, Cyient, Inframappa, Nomoko, Precision, PTV Group, SafeGraph, Sanborn, and Sparkgeo members.

This collaboration is based on the premise that map data needs to be a shared asset to support future applications.

Due to requirements for accuracy, updates, distributions in the map have grown to meet user needs, costs, complexity of data collection and maintenance of global maps have grown beyond any organization's capabilities.

All data layers have been formatted in the newly launched Overture Maps Foundation data scheme, designed to allow map service developers to absorb and use map data in a standard, documented, and will be operational manner.

For information, the Overture Maps Foundation released data publicly to request feedback from them. The upcoming release will integrate new sources of open data, further transform from this data layer into the group scheme, and implement the Global Entity Reference System, a stable ID system that allows data to be added consistently to the features on the map.