In addition to general electronic maps, satellite and aerial maps, there are street view maps, car navigation maps, indoor maps and so on.
Various professional map companies have been born one after another, and the competition is fierce.
20 13, map-related news keeps coming. Google spent $966 million to acquire crowdsourced map Waze, and its competitor Apple also recruited several companies related to map data, geographic location and navigation. Indoor maps have been dormant for a long time, and finally it is expected that several approachable applications will appear; Baidu and Gaode have launched fierce competition for free. The former claims that paying users can apply for a refund. Li Zhiguo, an angel investor, wrote that "the essence of the map war is to compete for the O2O entrance" at the right time. A concept has been implanted in everyone's mind: the value of maps is underestimated, and these internet giants are playing a huge game of chess.
From the application field, the directions that map or LBS products most easily think of are transportation, O2O and online travel, but this seems a bit superficial: Google spends a lot of money to collect road information, draw satellite maps and three-dimensional street view maps every year. The new version of Google Maps takes the map as the absolute center, and Google+, navigation and other functions are all sidelined. Map application will give birth to an open ecosystem based on maps, and map data will become public resources on the Internet.
Cheng Congwu, CEO of Gaode Software, has publicly pointed out that maps are an important entrance to the mobile Internet. We are used to using search, which stems from our dependence on text. If geographical location is taken as an indicator, it is likely that the information presentation mode and thinking mode will change.
Indoor positioning: it is close to business, which sounds beautiful, but it is technically difficult.
On behalf of the company: a long way and a smart map.
Outdoor maps are becoming more and more mature, and indoor maps are as attractive as the former. The reason is simple: it can be implemented directly with O2O. Shopping centers, airports, hospitals, etc. Are typical use scenarios of indoor maps. However, everyone has been trapped in technical problems, such as Bluetooth, WiFi, RFID, Zigbee, ultra-wideband and geomagnetism, and the accuracy is difficult to be perfect now. Domestic companies in this field have a long way to go (indoor map data providers) and smart maps (using WiFi fingerprint identification technology for positioning, and its "deer-seeking" is a client navigation product).
Three-dimensional map and AR navigation: the revolution of map expression
On behalf of the company: Google Maps, WeChat Street View, E City, Panorama, City Lens, Gaode AR Real Navigation, Road Idiot Artifact.
Combined with three-dimensional simulation and other technologies, three-dimensional maps can be formed. The new version of Google Maps includes street view function, and also integrates some contents of Google Earth, such as underwater world and aerial perspective.
These products can achieve the effect of VR (Virtual Reality), and you can see the scenery at home and abroad without leaving home. Wechat Street View is the nearest VR navigation product, except for vertical products, such as panoramic tourists who are positioned as "virtual tours".
After the map is combined with AR (Augmented Reality), the destination can be found through mobile phone positioning. The most famous function is the City lens launched by Nokia on 20 12, but it is not convenient to use in China due to data problems.
Crowdsourcing map: reducing the cost of information collection makes Google envious.
Representative companies: Waze, Daoke Road Sharing, Google Earth, Hover, Dianping.com.
In 20 13, Israel Waze Company triggered the competition among Google, Apple and Facebook. This product can encourage drivers to use crowdsourcing mode to contribute all kinds of traffic information about roadblocks, accidents and so on. , draw a traffic information map, and make a profit by providing users with information about surrounding businesses while driving. Its incentives include allowing users to use navigation services, game mechanisms, community operations and so on. It's free.
3D maps also have crowdsourcing mode. For example, images uploaded to Google products will be integrated into 3D landscape maps. Hover is a 3D map crowdsourcing company. The pictures come from user submissions, drone photography, satellite images and so on.
Crowdsourcing or UGC is an important trend of Internet development, and information is "packaged". We can also boldly predict the public comments. Com has the corresponding price and word-of-mouth information of restaurants all over the country. If this information is displayed through a map, it can become a virtual "food map". A lot of information can be mapped.