This is a great summary, and actually something I’m professionally pretty excited about. Google maps (and the associated API endpoints) are great but they come with a lot of limitations, particularly on the data storage side as you mentioned. This poses a lot of challenges for data-driven work. A more rigorous alternative to OSM is really encouraging!
While the Overture initiative is a fantastic development, categorizing it as a disruptor or threat to Google Maps is inaccurate.
First of all "Google Maps" is a consumer APPLICATION that is available for web and mobile consumers to search for, explore, evaluate and navigate to places. Overture has no aspirations of providing that type of application or service.
If you meant to write that Overture is a potential disruptor of Google's Geospatial Platform Services, that is also incorrect as Overture is a data set - not a platform that provides developers with APIs to access geospatial functions. If a developer wanted to use Overture data, they would need to replicate the huge investment in the highly scalable, feature rich, geospatial platform that Google has built over the past 18 years. I've been with a number of companies who have done this and it's no easy task to compete with Google's platform.
What Overture is a threat to (or a disruptor of) are the commercial map providers (HERE, TomTom, Zenrin, MapMyIndia) who sell their map data to application and geospatial platform companies. But even with that in mind, Overture today is far from providing the breadth of content that these data companies offer (attributes for routing, speed data, imagery, etc).
Overture has made a great start and that gap will close over time. But for now, Overture represents a great source of data for companies who have built (or want to build) their own geospatial platform solely to render great looking, detailed maps and to search for points of interest.
Maybe good to add, is that TomTom is one of the founders of Overture, and they clearly see benefits of using this data/collaborating with Meta etc. So where you say it's a risk to them, I think TomTom sees opportunities rather than risks.
Agreed. And that's why they decided to join. They see the disruption that this would cause and so instead of sitting idly by and letting that happen, they are participating in order to stay close and to "go up the stack" to the platform (their Orbis initiative) and application level.
They still haven't fixed Google Maps incumbant laziness?
I remember a decade ago when Google Maps directed me to a winery in California five miles away from its actual location. Right after, when I visited Italy, I discovered how useless it was compared to services like tuttocitta.it.
So much of American Internet service use is about just feeding off the lame crap they put in front of you and not even thinking. I won't even begin on how pointless Yelp is overseas.
This is a great summary, and actually something I’m professionally pretty excited about. Google maps (and the associated API endpoints) are great but they come with a lot of limitations, particularly on the data storage side as you mentioned. This poses a lot of challenges for data-driven work. A more rigorous alternative to OSM is really encouraging!
While the Overture initiative is a fantastic development, categorizing it as a disruptor or threat to Google Maps is inaccurate.
First of all "Google Maps" is a consumer APPLICATION that is available for web and mobile consumers to search for, explore, evaluate and navigate to places. Overture has no aspirations of providing that type of application or service.
If you meant to write that Overture is a potential disruptor of Google's Geospatial Platform Services, that is also incorrect as Overture is a data set - not a platform that provides developers with APIs to access geospatial functions. If a developer wanted to use Overture data, they would need to replicate the huge investment in the highly scalable, feature rich, geospatial platform that Google has built over the past 18 years. I've been with a number of companies who have done this and it's no easy task to compete with Google's platform.
What Overture is a threat to (or a disruptor of) are the commercial map providers (HERE, TomTom, Zenrin, MapMyIndia) who sell their map data to application and geospatial platform companies. But even with that in mind, Overture today is far from providing the breadth of content that these data companies offer (attributes for routing, speed data, imagery, etc).
Overture has made a great start and that gap will close over time. But for now, Overture represents a great source of data for companies who have built (or want to build) their own geospatial platform solely to render great looking, detailed maps and to search for points of interest.
Maybe good to add, is that TomTom is one of the founders of Overture, and they clearly see benefits of using this data/collaborating with Meta etc. So where you say it's a risk to them, I think TomTom sees opportunities rather than risks.
Agreed. And that's why they decided to join. They see the disruption that this would cause and so instead of sitting idly by and letting that happen, they are participating in order to stay close and to "go up the stack" to the platform (their Orbis initiative) and application level.
I am not so sure if they are using Google maps, you know. There are also HERE maps. And as far as I know, they are theirs partners.
They still haven't fixed Google Maps incumbant laziness?
I remember a decade ago when Google Maps directed me to a winery in California five miles away from its actual location. Right after, when I visited Italy, I discovered how useless it was compared to services like tuttocitta.it.
So much of American Internet service use is about just feeding off the lame crap they put in front of you and not even thinking. I won't even begin on how pointless Yelp is overseas.
Wow, I got this article from a newsletter and then I saw that you wrote it Michelle. So awesome!! Clear, structured, and well researched. Nice work!
Thank you Brian!!