Ride-hailing platform Ola has launched Ola Maps as an alternative to Western mapping services and to cater to the unique needs of Indian geography such as street names, urban changes, complex traffic, non-standard roads etc.
According to a blog post, Ola Maps aims to tackle these with AI-powered India-specific algorithms, real-time data from millions of vehicles, and by leveraging and contributing to Open Street Maps—a free, open geographic database.
Ola Maps’ approach to digital mapping combines multiple data sources, advanced AI algorithms, and software development kits.
Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO of Ola Cabs, shared the news on social media platform X, stating, “After #ExitAzure, it’s time for developers to #ExitGoogleMaps! 1 YEAR FREE access to all developers to Ola Maps on
@Krutrim, more than ₹100Cr in free credits! https://maps.olakrutrim.com .”
“Existing mapping providers do not fully address unique challenges related to delivering a seamless experience for Indian users and this creates special opportunities for Ola and Indian developers,” stated the company.
“In order to address them and tap the opportunities, we are leveraging three core resources: the power of AI, the power of open source and the power of the vast Indian talent ecosystem. This approach not only allows us to be more efficient but also ensures that our maps are built for delivering contextually relevant, accurate, safer and enhanced customer experience,” the blog added.
<figure class="image embed" contenteditable="false" data-id="548478" data-url="https://images.yourstory.com/cs/2/e641e900925711e9926177f451727da9/Screenshot2024-07-08at4-1720435747086.png" data-alt="Ola Maps" data-caption="
Image Source : Ola’s blogpost
” align=”center”> Image Source : Ola’s blogpost
.thumbnailWrapper{
width:6.62rem !important;
}
.alsoReadTitleImage{
min-width: 81px !important;
min-height: 81px !important;
}
.alsoReadMainTitleText{
font-size: 14px !important;
line-height: 20px !important;
}
.alsoReadHeadText{
font-size: 24px !important;
line-height: 20px !important;
}
}
It noted that the platform serves over a million search queries every day for Ola Electric users. Use of on-device navigation has gone up 4X since the launch of Ola Maps on MoveOS 4—Ola ELectric’s software platform for its e-scooters.
“Every day tens of thousands of customers use Ola Maps on their scooters and the Ola Electric app for a guided commute to places in their cities,” the company stated in its blog post.
Recently, Ola fully exited Google Maps and switched over to Ola Maps. Aggarwal noted in a post on X that the company would be saving Rs 100 crore a year after the exit.
It started working on developing an in-house mapping service after acquiring GeoSpoc, a Pune-based company specialising in geospatial services, in 2021.
The company had in May also decided to to move its entire workload out of Microsoft Azure to its own cloud platform Krutrim.
Edited by Kanishk Singh
