Flipkart Partners With MapUnity To Activate Flipkart Maps

Flipkart, a Bangalore based ecommerce company, has partnered with MapUnity, a Social Technology Lab by Dr. Ashwin Mahesh, to mark the debut of Flipkart Maps.

MapUnity has started TechNagara, a social network for bringing together public information about governance. It also facilitates and promotes public engagement in solving the key problems of metropolitan areas. Earlier in 2006, it also built the first Transport Information System for Bangalore.

Ashwin Mahesh, founder, MapUnity, tweeted:

Mapunity to debut Flipkart maps on its city transport information systems, and make these available for all cities in Smart Cities mission.

— Ashwin Mahesh (@ashwinmahesh) May 5, 2016

The network covers all the chosen cities in the ‘Smart Cities’ mission including a few other prominent ones, and have to date activated this system for about 126 cities.

In December last year, Flipkart has acquired 34% stake in Delhi based digital mapping firm MapMyIndia for $240 Mn (INR 1600 crore). The company’s COO Binny Bansal mentioned that time that this partnership can give them a sustainable competitive advantage.  He also said that the integration of comprehensive and accurate location data will allow them to deliver a personalised experience to customers.

As per ET sources, Flipkart Maps is said to be a product possibly driven from this acquisition.

In Bangalore, the agencies whose data may be integrated into this platform are BWSSB, BBMP, BESCOM, BMTC, BMRCL, Bangalore One, BMRDA, BDA, the traffic police, etc.

As said by Seth Godin, a renowned author, ‘Life is a series of Dips’ and it seems that this statement is getting true for Flipkart by all means. After making its mark in ecommerce space adding almost all verticals to the portal, Sachin and Binny Bansal are now moving on entirely different path. Who knows, that in future we found it competing with Google Maps.

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