The mapping space seems to be on the map so as to say with MapmyIndia announcing its million dollar funding and now Rediff.com has gone ahead and made live a mapping products not suprisingly titled Rediff Maps. Rediff is sourcing the data from ML Infomap – A Delhi based GIS Information provider. The Indian players are quickly becoming aggressive in the mapping space. With Rediff now launched and Reliance BigMaps looking to launch anytime soon this space is sure seeing a lot of players trying to make a mark in the online mapping segment.
Recently Microsoft also launched newer features for its live search maps and also tied up with Hyderabad police for traffic alerts.
The real question is how many people in India use maps? And those who do which one do they use?
I would assume maps usage for directions would be an activity done by most advanced and active internet users. Now given that google maps has been around for sometime it looks unlikely that players will garner market share from them in a hurry. Unless they are able to go offline like MapmyIndia has done with its navigator device and also go mobile in a big way forging tie ups with mobile players.
Mapping mash ups the way to go?
For me the key to mapping success for players like Rediff and microsoft is to integrate the maps in various services they provide i.e. email, news etc. This way they increase the chances of their users interacting with maps and thereby create a larger base of map users.
[poll id="21"]
They seem to be down! I get “Data Not available”!
WTF, Yahoo Maps is missing from the list.
Yahoo Maps is awesome.
Wow!!! Kudos… Rediff Maps… it looks lovely. And, the search is superb compared to google maps. World, India is coming…
@Sid: Thanks added to poll!
They can add more functionality to their maps, by studying http://openlayers.org/dev/examples/
Sorry guys, Rediff maps is a disappointment
Ugly colors, ugly look and feel. Search is more than livable. But, duplicate names, overlapped cluttered Icons, green roads, no state highways, etc is real disappointment.
I think Yahoo India Maps and Routeguru are the solutions which deliver the best directions. Why is Routeguru missing from the above list?
Rediff could have got the service from RouteGuru or MapMyIndia, they are the experts in the domain, Don’t understand what made Ajit click with MLinfo.
However, good that they are thinking location is important in their boquet as well.
You missed Nokia from the list..Maps form a critical part of their handset as well as services strategy. Currently, they have a decent offering for major cities in India (on select Nokia handsets).
Moreover, Maps is a huge operational and technology play. As the volumes are going to be low for some time to come, players will have to quickly figure out how do they justify these investments – monetization / synergy with their existing offerings. For a player like Nokia this could mean differentiation on the handset, and as you rightly pointed out the “point of access” aspect, their wide handset base is going to be a strong leverage point. They seem to be really committed on the services play.
On Google, Yahoo, MSN, Maps is an extension of their local strategy – Maps is just another investment to ensure that they deliver on the search experience, they already have people coming to their site for searching, the monetization framework is in place (to some extent) and they seem to be committed to the operational effort that lies ahead and have patience for these things to pick up.
On Reliance, they have been having geo data for sometime now thanks to Reliance Infocom, they would probably try and extend that…For MapMyIndia that’s their business.
..and finally On Rediff, although they have a 3rd party provider they probably will have to do lot of massaging on what they would get – operational effort. Moreover which product(s) of Rediff would the Maps data get integrated with and the incremental value add will be key. This is certainly a bold step if they are wanting to go all the way, and I wish them all the best.