Indian ridesharing company Ola, co-founded and led by CEO Bhavish Aggarwal, has made a significant announcement regarding its decision to move away from Google Maps in favour of its own in-house mapping service called Ola Maps. This decision follows the company’s recent shift from Microsoft Azure to an in-house cloud infrastructure to support its ecosystem and power the company’s large language model (LLM) Krutrim.
Bhavish Aggarwal shared this news via a social media post, indicating that Ola has successfully transitioned from Google Maps to Ola Maps, eliminating an annual expense of ₹100 crores. The company has dedicated substantial resources towards the development of Ola Maps, and this move signifies a major step in leveraging their proprietary mapping solution. Ola Maps aims to offer a wide range of features, including street view, neural radiance fields (NERFs), indoor images, 3D maps, drone maps, and more in the near future.
It is noteworthy that Ola Maps is based on OpenStreetMap, an open-source and free-to-use map with an open license, supplemented with proprietary data from Ola. The utilization of OpenStreetMap as the foundation for Ola Maps sets the stage for an independent and self-sufficient mapping solution.
While Google Maps is widely available for consumer use, businesses like Ola, which integrate the Application Programming Interface (API) into their offerings, incur associated fees. By transitioning to their in-house mapping service, Ola aims to eliminate the recurring expenses associated with Google Maps. However, there will be initial deployment costs for the hardware and software infrastructure required to operate and maintain Ola Maps.
In a forward-thinking move, Ola has made it clear that the scope of Ola Maps extends beyond the company’s own services such as the ride-hailing platform and electric vehicles. Ola has announced that the Ola Maps API will be accessible to developers for integration into Android and iOS applications, offered through Krutrim Cloud at a cost.
The strategic shift from Google Maps to Ola Maps demonstrates the company’s commitment to a more cost-effective and tailored mapping solution. Additionally, the introduction of the Ola Maps API for developers reflects Ola’s vision to create a more inclusive mapping ecosystem that extends beyond its own products and services.
In conclusion, Ola’s decision to transition from Google Maps to Ola Maps, paired with the announcement of the Ola Maps API for developers, signals a new era for the company’s mapping capabilities and reflects Ola’s innovative approach to technology and business operations.