Microsoft, Meta and Amazon join hands to take on Google in mapping space, here’s how

The Linux Foundation, a non-profit organisation, has announced that it is partnering with Amazon Web Services (AWS), Meta, Microsoft, and Netherlands-based creator of location technology TomTom to develop open map data “as a shared asset that can strengthen mapping services worldwide.”

Interestingly, the group doesn’t include Google, the company that has pioneered mapping technology and its Google Maps is one of the go-to apps for navigation. The Linux Foundation says that the group’s mission is to enable “current and next-generation map products by creating reliable, easy-to-use, and interoperable open map data.”

The companies, together referred to as Overture Maps Foundation, will contribute their own data and combine resources to build map data that will be open and extensible by all under an open data licence.