TomTom (TOM2), the geolocation technology specialist, today announced, together with Amazon Web Services (AWS), Meta, and Microsoft, the formation of the Overture Maps Foundation. This collaborative effort under the governance of the Linux Foundation aims to develop interoperable open map data.

As map data support an ever-increasing amount of use cases, the requirements for new map content, completeness, accuracy, and freshness are virtually limitless. To support industry demands, the pooling of resources and creating a global map standard are needed. The Overture Maps Foundation intends to realize a global entity reference system and structured data schema. This will facilitate an ecosystem of users and contributors to share map data efficiently.

“Collaborative mapmaking is central to TomTom’s strategy. The Overture Maps Foundation provides the framework to accelerate our goals”, Harold Goddijn, CEO of TomTom said. “Overture’s standardization and the interoperable base map are fundamental to bringing geospatial information from the world together. TomTom’s Maps Platform will leverage the combination of the Overture base map, a broad range of other data, and TomTom’s proprietary data in a continuously integrated and quality-controlled product that serves a broad range of use cases, including the most demanding applications like advanced navigation, search, and automated driving.”

TomTom customers using TomTom’s new Maps Platform will benefit from fast integration and quality control of map data as well as a broad range of online services, including map visualization, search, routing, navigation, traffic information, and TomTom’s digital cockpit for car makers. TomTom’s next generation platform for mapmaking is designed with the objectives of the Overture Maps Foundation in mind. TomTom will share its knowledge and insights to advance an open ecosystem around collaborative mapmaking.

Overture expects to release its first data in the first half of 2023. While Overture has been founded by AWS, Meta, Microsoft, and TomTom, the goal is to expand participation and contributions to include a wide range of organizations including service providers and governmental organizations.

Source: TomTom