ISRO and MapmyIndia announce partnership to offer India’s best, and completely indigenous, mapping portals, apps, and geospatial software

• Path-breaking milestone in India’s journey towards Aatmanirbhar Bharat, wherein Indian users would not be dependent on foreign organisations for maps, navigation, and geospatial services, and leverage made in India solutions instead

• Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and MapmyIndia, the pre-eminent indigenous, local organisations in maps and geospatial technologies together provide end to end solution which is world-class and better for India compared to foreign mapping apps and geospatial software

February 12, 2021, New Delhi/Bangalore: Today, ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) and MapmyIndia announced a path-breaking Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative to partner together to offer India’s best, and fully indigenous, mapping portal and geospatial services by combining the power of MapmyIndia’s digital maps and technologies with ISRO’s catalogue of satellite imagery and earth observation data.

Through the combined partnership with ISRO, MapmyIndia’s end user maps, apps and services will now integrate with ISRO’s huge catalogue of satellite imagery and earth observation data, and would be a much better, more detailed and comprehensive, as well as privacy-centric, hyper local and indigenous mapping solution for Indians, compared to foreign map apps and solutions. Users will be able to see in MapmyIndia’s maps, navigation, and geospatial services, all of India from a bird’s eye point of view, and also benefit hugely from the various map-based analytics and insights about weather, pollution, agricultural output, land use changes, flood and landslide disasters, etc. This will become the most comprehensive and useful maps, navigation, and geospatial service for India. MapmyIndia’s maps and APIs will enrich ISRO’s geoportals, empowering Indian scientists, academia, researchers, and government organisations with the best of India’s satellite imagery, earth observation data, and digital map data, and advanced geospatial technologies, all combined together in a fully indigenous Aatmanirbhar ISRO-MapmyIndia platform.

Commenting on the occasion, Rohan Verma, CEO & Executive Director, MapmyIndia said, “This is a special moment for us at MapmyIndia. For 25 years, we’ve persisted, despite many odds, because of our passion for India, for maps & technology, and our never-ending desire to positively impact society through business. This partnership with ISRO heralds new dawn of Aatmanirbhar Bharat in the strategic area of maps and geospatial technologies. I’d like to thank first and foremost our honourable Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi ji, for his clarion call for an Aatmanirbhar Bharat and Vocal for Local and for him personally driving reforms in space and mapping sectors. I’d also like to especially thank ISRO Chairman, Dr. K. Sivan and ISRO Scientific Secretary, Shri R Umamaheshwaran and the entire ISRO team for guiding us and facilitating such an amazing partnership. I’m committed to seeing all Indians benefit from the good work we’ve done at MapmyIndia over the last 25 years, and helping accelerate India’s rise as the most advanced country in the world through the full power of our maps and geospatial technologies, all developed indigenously in India, for India, and in future, for the world.”

There are many reasons why Indians are better off with an indigenous solution for maps and geospatial services. MapmyIndia, being a responsible, local, Indian company, ensures that its maps reflect the true sovereignty of the country, depicting India’s borders as per the Government of India, and hosts its maps in India. MapmyIndia pioneered digital mapping in India in 1995, far before any foreign organisation, and for the last 25+ years has created India’s most comprehensive, accurate, detailed, feature-rich, and continuously updated digital map data product. MapmyIndia’s maps cover all 7.5 lakh villages, 7500+ cities at street and building-level, connected by all 63 lakh kilometers of road network pan India and within cities, in total providing maps for an unparalleled 3+ crore places across India. This is by far the most exhaustive digital map database of the country, created entirely indigenously using world-class, state-of-the-art mapping technology over the last 25 years, far before any foreign organisation started offering maps for India. Similarly, ISRO is India’s crown jewel when it comes to space and satellite technologies. It has pioneered so many advances when it comes to the frontiers of space and has an enormous catalogue of satellite imagery and earth observation for all of India, that it generates and publishes through its constellation of satellites. ISRO is more responsive to the satellite imagery needs of Indians, especially during times of crisis and disaster.

Foreign mapping solutions come with a lot of hidden costs. For e.g., foreign search engines and companies claim to offer “free” maps, but in reality, they make money by targeting the same users with advertising based on invading user privacy and auctioning those users’ private location and movement data. This should be very alarming to all citizens. On the other hand, MapmyIndia has an ethical point of view against advertising led business models of such companies, and hence, does not have an advertising business model. By using MapmyIndia maps and applications instead of the foreign map apps, users can better protect their privacy.

MapmyIndia instead has built a strong, sustainable business based on delivering world-class, positively impactful, and valuable digital map data products, navigation solutions, mapping APIs, automotive technology platforms, geospatial analytics, and GIS solutions, IoT and telematics products, big data, and AI solutions, enterprise software (SaaS) / platforms (PaaS), and full-stack digital automotive, business and government technology solutions to enterprises and app developers, and GPS gadgets and apps for consumers.

This sustainable and direct, clean business model ensures that MapmyIndia’s maps and apps can be kept free of cost as well as free of ads for users. 5000 leading enterprise customers, including automotive companies, government organisations, businesses across industry verticals and app developers, leverage MapmyIndia’s maps and advanced technologies, collectively empowering over 20 crore Indians indirectly, validating the quality and capability of MapmyIndia’s digital maps and advanced technology products, in spite of facing competition from foreign, big-tech giants.

To learn more, visit www.mapmyindia.com and https://www.isro.gov.in/update/11-feb-2021/mou-signed-with-m-s-ce-info-systems-pvt-ltd-mapmyindia

About MapmyIndia (CE Infosystems Pvt. Ltd.)
MapmyIndia is India’s leading digital mapping & location-based deep-tech company, a 100% make in India organisation and winner of the Government of India’s Aatma Nirbhar App Innovation Challenge 2020. MapmyIndia pioneered digital mapping in India in 1995, and since then has built India’s most comprehensive, accurate and feature-rich digital map data set down to address and urban building level detail pan India, covering all villages across India, and the entire road network of the country.

MapmyIndia has also built a whole suite of location-based technologies, applications, APIs, IoT solutions and has capabilities across the map APIs, navigation solutions, tracking systems, IoT & Telematics solutions, GIS and geo-spatial analytics solutions, big data, AI/ML, computer vision, cloud computing, edge computing, consumer apps and enterprise SaaS, and IoT devices and gadgets that it delivers to individuals, government organisations, businesses, automotive companies and app developers. With its vast experience and expertise, MapmyIndia provides platforms and solutions for citizens, residents and local, state and central government authorities towards Smart Cities, Digital Door Number Address Systems, Urban Planning, Urban Transportation & Mobility, Emergency Response, Road Safety, Smart Governance, Swacch Bharat, Grievance reddressal, Traffic Management etc.