Google Maps has pretty much literally taken over the world, and you no longer hear people say they want to “MapQuest” something. Sounds kind of silly, nowadays, if you ask me (no offense, Map Quest lovers). From navigating to finding new things to experience like restaurants, concerts, other local events, and so on – the app has become an all-encompassing tool that millions rely upon.
Everyone loves, Google Maps, right? Well, not exactly. One thing that you have to keep in mind is that when Maps was created, it was a major industry disruptor. Microsoft was working on Bing Maps, TomTom fell from grace as the go-to navigation toolbox, and more importantly, Google Maps is closed-source. This means that should the company choose to make a decision that no longer benefits others, there’s nothing anyone can do about it.
This has left a bad taste in the mouth of Google’s competitors, and they’ve decided they will join forces to do something about it. In the past, everyone wanted to do work alone and dominate the industry, but now that someone has truly done that – Google – many will need to dogpile (heh) the Search and AI giant to steal its throne.
The Overture Maps Foundation, which is a part of the Linux Foundation, Meta – who you probably know as Facebook – TomTom, Amazon Web Services, and even Microsoft are all tag-teaming an alternative that hopes to be as robust and versatile as what Google has created. I suppose you could say that they’re going on…. a map quest.
This initiative seeks to create reliable, easy-to-use, and interoperable open map data. In an interview recently, The Linux Foundation’s very own executive director, Jim Zemlin had this to say:
Mapping the physical environment and every community in the world, even as they grow and change, is a massively complex challenge that no one organization can manage. Industry needs to come together to do this for the benefit of all. We are excited to facilitate this open collaboration among leading technology companies to develop high quality, open map data that will enable untold innovations for the benefit of people, companies, and communities.
Jim Zemlin, executive director, the Linux Foundation
According to what we’re seeing here, it will more than likely operate as a background pull service that apps and services that do not wish to draw their data from Google Maps can utilize in order to achieve the same or similar benefit to their consumers.
What I’m saying is that you shouldn’t expect to see an Overture Maps app on the Play Store or anything. Additionally, Overture could power IoT devices, wearables, and more with its data. Having something that’s more open, interplays with many non-Google devices and services, and is not horribly unusable like most open-source software has been for decades will be a welcome change to the monopoly that Google has created. My only concern is that many of the largest corporations competing with Google are involved in this project, which means that they hope to benefit from it at some point monetarily.
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