Ola, India’s largest mobility platform, on Tuesday, said it has acquired GeoSpoc, a leading geospatial services provider in India.
Making the announcement on a blog post, Bhavish Aggarwal, co- founder and CEO, Ola said, “Dhruva and his team of Geospatial scientists and engineers will be joining Ola to develop technologies which will make mobility universally accessible, sustainable, personalised, and convenient, across shared and personal vehicles.”
The Ola CEO said, “Enhanced geo-spatial services will also go a long way in improving urban planning including road networks, better public transportation and pre-empt congestion spots.”
Agarwal said Ola has data and expertise to build this utilizing its deep understanding of consumer movements as well as its massive network of 2,3 and 4Ws that provide unprecedented geo-spatial details.
Ola can layer this data with new sources such as satellite imagery and visual feeds from its network on-ground to build ‘Living Maps’, Agarwal further added.
Agarwal said the new modes of transport will transform our day to day lives and these fundamental changes will require investments in next-gen technologies, including location and geospatial technologies, advancements in satellite imagery conversion into real-time maps as well as 3D, HD and vector maps.
The Ola CEO said accurate and rich maps with high user context should be available to the population beyond the first 100 million users. Multi-modal transportation options will need geospatial intelligence to understand the unique benefits of each option and provide suggestions accordingly.
He further added that Maps will not only need to consider a 3-dimensional view of the world as aerial mobility models such as drones become more mainstream but also for incorporating near real-time satellite imagery to provide a better understanding of road quality, as well as improvements such as avoiding poorly lit streets at night for safety – even if it is a faster route.
This article was first published on livemint.com