On March 12, 2023, in Austin, Texas, mapping experts from the likes of Meta, Lyft and TomTom, working at the heart of this industry, gathered on the Industries Expo – Next Stage at SXSW to discuss the future of mapmaking and location-powered tech. If there’s anything we need to take away from this talk it’s that working with maps and location data is hard, whatever part of the industry you operate in. But it doesn’t need to be, if we work together.

Today, the world of global logistics would be nothing without the shipping container. The simple steel box revolutionized how goods are moved between continents and across oceans. Despite its simplicity, it's one of the most significant inventions ever — it also makes a great metaphor for the state of modern, global digital mapmaking.

No matter how much experience we have flying, air travel will always be one of the most stressful means of travel. If clearing security, making it to your connecting flight in time and getting to and from airports weren’t enough, having to successfully locate the ride-hailing pick-up point in a new airport and find the cab you ordered add to the pains of the modern traveler.

Amazon Web Services, Meta, Microsoft and TomTom have come together, as founding members, to form the Overture Maps Foundation, an open-data project that aims to build “reliable, easy-to-use and interoperable open map data.” The Overture Foundation is being established under the Linux Foundation, which first shared the news yesterday, and will define a new standard for mapmaking. With this news, TomTom galvanizes the next phase of its plan to build “the smartest map on the planet.”

Earlier this month, TomTom lifted the lid on its game-changing approach to build a new mapping and geolocation data ecosystem, the TomTom Maps Platform. Data will be key to its success, and while the company already has more than 30 years’ worth of global location data, it’s not resting on its laurels. The Dutch mapmaker is instead taking data sourcing to new heights with what it calls “super sources.” But what are they?

Today, at its investor meeting, TomTom made one of the most significant announcements in its 30-year history. The geolocation tech specialist and mapmaking company is launching a new map, mapping platform and ecosystem, which the company is collectively calling the TomTom Maps Platform. TomTom says it will set a new standard for mapmaking, one designed to support a future of innovative location-based tech and will lay the foundation for industry-wide open collaboration.

It’s that time of the year again: your holiday has arrived. You’re loading bags into the car ready to head to the airport. You’re excited, but you’ve got a flight to catch, and time is ticking. Sandy beaches and hot sun await but hang on – your navigation isn’t working properly. You’re being led in circles, with no way of knowing how to get to the airport.

Connected cars are promising us a future of safer and less stressful driving. Driver aids built on data, knowledge and information are starting to bring this vision to life. But there’s a problem, what happens when we don’t have a data signal or cellular connection?

Making maps is a tricky business, reading them can be equally tricky too, especially if you aren’t able to perceive a full spectrum of color. All those fine lines, colors, contrasts and shades can make it difficult, if not impossible, to differentiate between road types, features, grid lines, contours and other map features. Thankfully, with more mindful design, we can make maps accessible to everyone.

The world is changing by the minute. And, thanks to localized economic development and sudden population growth, some places are changing faster than others. Keeping up with that change isn’t easy.

Privacy is complicated, but it shouldn’t be. If a tech company says that it’s not tracking your location, it shouldn’t be tracking your location at all. If you opt out of being tracked, it’s clear what your intention is; it’s not an invitation for the tech company to find ways around your intention. With the help of a few industry experts, I put TomTom’s approach to privacy under the microscope and found it has a refreshingly unique and progressive approach to data privacy.

Providing drivers with the best route possible is no simple task. Routing algorithms that take care of directing a driver from A to B rely on immense amounts of map data that needs to be up to date, accurate and contextual. As one instance in Finland shows, if map data isn’t up to scratch, drivers can be put in unnecessary danger.

I’d like to show you something we’ve been working on for some time: RoadRunner.

Necessity is the mother of invention. Never has that been truer. With global chip shortages ravaging automotive supply chains, carmakers are facing factory closures, production is slowing and costs are rising. Engineers at TomTom, though, are finding ways to innovate around the problem to prevent production delays.

Digital cockpit and in-car navigation systems are complex. As drivers, we rarely give a thought to all the different components that come together to make our nav systems work. But spare one, as you read this, as we go behind the dash and consider what it means for a car to use a navigation system from one supplier and a map from another or, in technical speak, what it means to be map agnostic.

What does it mean for a map to be high quality?