Photo: autoevolution
While Google Maps is one of the leading choices in terms of navigation apps, this hasn’t stopped other third parties from developing similar solutions, some of which come with unique features that aren’t even available in Google’s product.
MapmyIndia, for example, is a tech company that has invested aggressively in a digital mapping solution for India, and now it’s the one chosen to build a full alternative to Google Maps.
India’s space agency has officially partnered with MapmyIndia for such a project, with an official announcement (embedded at the end of the article) revealing that the two would contribute with their very own capabilities for the creation of a solution specifically tailored to local users.
MapmyIndia CEO Rohan Verma specifically named Google Maps and Google Earth as the products he hopes the new solution would replace, emphasizing the new application is supposed to focus on privacy more than any other similar service.
“Foreign mapping solutions come with alot [sic] of hidden costs. For e.g., foreign search engines and companies claim to offer ‘free’ maps, but in reality they make money by targeting the same users with advertising based on invading user privacy and auctioning those users’ private location and movement data. This should be very alarming to all citizens,” Verma noted in a post on his LinkedIn page.
“On the other hand, MapmyIndia has an ethical point of view against advertising led business models of such companies, and hence, does not have an advertising business model. By using MapmyIndia maps and applications instead of the foreign map apps, users can better protect their privacy.”
An ETA as to when the Google Maps alternative is supposed to go live isn’t yet available, but the joint project announcement comes only a few days after India’s officials announced other ambitious solutions supposed to replace foreign products like Twitter and WhatsApp, all with the purpose of providing local users with alternatives that are better tailored to their needs.
India’s space agency has officially partnered with MapmyIndia for such a project, with an official announcement (embedded at the end of the article) revealing that the two would contribute with their very own capabilities for the creation of a solution specifically tailored to local users.
MapmyIndia CEO Rohan Verma specifically named Google Maps and Google Earth as the products he hopes the new solution would replace, emphasizing the new application is supposed to focus on privacy more than any other similar service.
“Foreign mapping solutions come with alot [sic] of hidden costs. For e.g., foreign search engines and companies claim to offer ‘free’ maps, but in reality they make money by targeting the same users with advertising based on invading user privacy and auctioning those users’ private location and movement data. This should be very alarming to all citizens,” Verma noted in a post on his LinkedIn page.
“On the other hand, MapmyIndia has an ethical point of view against advertising led business models of such companies, and hence, does not have an advertising business model. By using MapmyIndia maps and applications instead of the foreign map apps, users can better protect their privacy.”
An ETA as to when the Google Maps alternative is supposed to go live isn’t yet available, but the joint project announcement comes only a few days after India’s officials announced other ambitious solutions supposed to replace foreign products like Twitter and WhatsApp, all with the purpose of providing local users with alternatives that are better tailored to their needs.
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