Facebook acquires'Mapillary' which collects map data by crowdsourcing



We have announced on the official blog that the map service '

Mapillary ', which collects landscape photos along roads like Google Street View by crowdsourcing and provides it with map data, was acquired by Facebook. Map Eric's CEO Yang Eric Solem, who was described as Wikipedia for cartography by MIT Tech Review, a science and technology magazine owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), explained on the blog how the company was acquired. doing.

Mapillary Joins Facebook on the Journey of Improving Maps Everywhere-The Mapillary Blog
https://blog.mapillary.com/news/2020/06/18/Mapillary-joins-Facebook.html

Solem CEO first said, 'From the day the service of Mapillary started, we provide global street level images to enable everyone to get the images and data they need to make better maps. We've been working on building a platform that works with tens of thousands of contributors, and with Mapillary data improving maps every day, we feel it's time to take the next big step. ”And claims that the time for change has come for Mapillary.



Facebook is working to create a more open map platform through machine learning, satellite imagery

and partnerships with the mapping community . Specifically, in July 2019, Facebook provided ' Map With AI, ' an in-house AI tool, to ' OpenStreetMap, ' an open source map data source. By becoming a Facebook umbrella, Mapillary will function as part of an open mapping project led by Facebook.

Mapillary is building tools to create up-to-date visual information anywhere in the world, and anyone can update that data. By integrating Mapillary's efforts so far with Facebook's open mapping project, it will be possible to process both 'aerial photography' and 'landscape photography along the road' images manually and mechanically ..

In addition, it seems that Mapillary will continue to be the same platform as before even after becoming a Facebook subsidiary, so users can still upload landscape photos along the road to Mapillary, and all the image and map data existing on the platform You can use or



In addition, Mapillary explained, 'We are committed to OpenStreetMap,' and will continue to work with all map communities, companies and cities to keep maps around the world more accurate, detailed and up to date. I will continue to make efforts.

All Mapillary data was open and anyone could use it for non-commercial purposes. This license will be the same in the future, but since Mapillary is under the umbrella of Facebook, users for commercial use will be able to use all data on Mapillary for free in the future. Regarding this, Solem CEO of Mapillary said, ``We used to have to focus on making profits to build the platform, but by becoming a Facebook company, we are making Mapillary a free service for everyone. I was able to get closer to my original vision.'

Since Facebook does not provide a map service, it is unknown how they intend to use the acquired Mapillary. Mapillary explained on a blog that 'it will lead to the strengthening of products like Facebook Marketplace that provide critical data to humanitarian organizations around the world.'

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in Web Service, Posted by logu_ii