Alphabet-owned Google dominates online
mapping, selling its services to other companies or platforms and using
location and navigation capabilities to enhance its other offerings, including
online advertising.
Meta, Microsoft, TomTom, and Amazon Web
Services have now introduced what they call the Overture Maps Foundation, the
goal of which is to make comprehensive mapping data openly available for use by
whoever may need it, the nonprofit Linux Foundation said in a release.
"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," said Linux
Foundation executive director Jim Zemlin.
"Industry needs to come together to do
this for the benefit of all."
Google was notably absent from the list of
companies teaming up in Overture, which said its goal is to expand membership
to speed up progress.
The coalition expected to release its first
mapping datasets by the middle of next year.
"Immersive experiences, which
understand and blend into your physical environment, are critical to the
embodied internet of the future," Maps at Meta engineering director Jan
Erik Solem said in the release.
"By delivering interoperable open map
data, Overture provides the foundation for an open metaverse built by creators,
developers, and businesses alike."
Map data already underlies applications for
search, navigation, logistics, games, autonomous driving and more, according to
the Linux Foundation.
Overture map data will be open source,
meaning developers are free to not only use it but to build on it, the Linux
Foundation said.
0 comments:
Post a Comment