Online cab aggregator, Ola, today announced that it has partnered with MapmyIndia, a digital map data services company, by acquiring a multi-year license for an undisclosed amount. As part of the deal, Ola will gain complete access to mapping data from MapmyIndia.
The partnership will also enable consistent map updates from MapmyIndia to Ola, making the data rich and relevant.
Founded in 1992 by Rakesh Verma and Rashmi Verma, MapmyIndia, currently, holds IP ownership for the largest and updated digital map data of India.
Ola receives billions of location data points from ride requests and fulfilment on its platform on a daily basis (the company claims to have a total of 25 Mn customers making 1 Mn daily booking requests) which has led to product innovations like real-time location updates. It is now in the process of planning smarter routing algorithms which can result in improved efficiency for its driver-partners and considerable rate of lower ETAs for the customers, in the near future.
Speaking on the development, Ankit Bhati, Co-founder & CTO at Ola said, “We aim to constantly innovate as we pursue our mission of building mobility for a billion people. Technology innovations around mapping and geo-location will help us build a better experience for driver-partners and customers. We are excited about this partnership with MapmyIndia, which brings onboard a wealth of mapping information like no other in the country, as we continue to build a world class product experience for users in the time to come.”
Ola considers geo-information to be at the core of its business and continuously keeps investing in. Earlier this month, it reportedly acquired Chennai-based Geotagg, a startup focused on intelligent transportation systems for an undisclosed amount.
Earlier this year, in March, Ola had acquired TaxiForSure. According to the company’s claim, currently, it holds about 80% of the market share in the taxi-hailing service.
However, competition is gaining speed. Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal had reported that, Uber, Ola’s biggest competitor in India, had struck a deal with Dutch company TomTom, allowing it to access digital maps and traffic data in around 300 cities in India.
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