SAN FRANCISCO — The Overture Maps Foundation, a collaborative effort to enable current and next-generation interoperable open map services and products, today announced the General Availability (GA) of several of its global open maps datasets, paving the way for new and expanded use cases for a wide range of commercial mapping applications and geospatial analysis.
Mapping service and application providers can use Overture’s open data for various uses including visual maps and spatial analysis. The data is delivered in a documented schema that allows developers to access it in a consistent way in their applications. To tailor the maps or analysis, developers can attach other spatial data to the entities in the base map via a unique identifier that makes data conflation much easier than it is today. In that way, the Overture data acts as a common, shared backbone for an expanding catalog of linked data.
“The data in this GA release is already powering use cases in local discovery, insurance, and mapping industries, and we expect many more use cases in the coming months from industries ranging from automotive to ride-sharing and more,” said Marc Prioleau, executive director of Overture Maps Foundation. “Getting to GA is a major milestone because it opens the gates for adoption by map developers. As the map data gets used, developers and users will provide feedback which creates mechanisms for continuous improvement.”
Leading Overture members, including Meta, Microsoft, Esri, and TomTom, are already incorporating Overture datasets into services and products.
“This GA release is just the beginning,” said Jan Erik Solem, chair of the Overture steering committee and Director, Maps at Meta. “Next-generation map products will enable a broad range of goods and services and Overture is on the leading edge of developing the open map data that will underpin that innovation. Meta is already using this dataset for maps across Meta applications, and I encourage all to look at it, use it, and help us make it better.”
Coincident with the July release, Overture also made an alpha release of a new Address theme. The initial release includes 14 countries with over 200 million addresses. The alpha release allows the public to see the proposed schema. Feedback from this release will inform the schema evolution to ensure it can work across a worldwide set of address data. Today, companies access address data from a multitude of open data sources but those sources often have different licenses, formats, and schemas. Once in Overture, the addresses will also have unique identifiers to enable rapid attachment of outside data. Address data will further enable advancements in navigation, logistics, search, and other applications.
Along with address data, Overture is adding visualization tools to make the dataset easier to explore and download. A feedback loop will be built in so the tool is continually improved.
Overture is unique in allowing companies to attach outside data to the Overture base map via Overture’s Global Entity Reference System or GERS. GERS IDs, or unique identifiers, are attached to entities in the data. This allows data to be consistently, correctly, and more quickly added to the map.
Overture data is sourced from the best open map data sources and conflated into a single dataset. The GA release includes four themes, some of which are already informing use cases:
The Transportation theme will continue in Beta as Overture finalizes network segmentation and implements broad schema changes. It is expected to move to GA within a few months. Users can look forward to improvements such as more detailed and accurate data from aerial imagery, clearer road routes with recognizable highway signs, comprehensive rail and ferry route data, and better handling of complex traffic rules and restrictions. These updates will make Overture’s data layers more reliable and user-friendly across a wide range of applications.
To join the Overture community by becoming a member, please visit:
https://overturemaps.org/become-a-member/
About Overture Maps Foundation
Founded in 2022, Overture Maps Foundation is the world’s leading home for collaboration on the development of reliable, easy-to-use, and interoperable open map data that will power current and next-generation map products. This interoperable map is the basis for extensibility, enabling companies to contribute their own data. Members combine resources to build map data that is complete, accurate, and refreshed as the physical world changes. Map data will be open and extensible by all under an open data license. For more information, please visit overturemaps.org.
