India-headquartered geospatial technology and solutions provider RMSI Pvt. Ltd. – who joined Apple Inc after working on such projects for Google and TomTom. Developing digital maps for the world – creating mapping solutions through which machines can understand each other and make sense of space. Anoop Jindal, CEO and Joint Managing Director said that a good map today will make all the difference for the success of an entity. Part:
How relevant are maps in today’s context and what are the latest trends?
it’s all shared-economy [companies] Like Swiggy, Zomato, Uber, Ola, the exchange of information around the map interface would not have been possible if there was no digital map and if the maps were not supported by a digital platform that facilitates dynamic routing. . In the future, maps will be at the heart of any digital infrastructure.
Digital infrastructure, whether it is of the federal government, state government or municipalities… will be at the heart of the map. We see how important the map is [for such agencies], how they manage their property taxes, their rural payments, subsidies and how they provide services to their citizens.
Maps are also important for large utilities, such as gas or electricity, to manage their overall operations. Therefore, Map has become the enabler of digital infrastructure, creating new business models, which also enable digital services from government agencies. second [opportunity] Maps for machines. As we opt for greater autonomy and robotics, all these machines will have to sense space and understand where they are, where they need to go. So maps will also develop in the sense that [they] Numbers have to be coded in, so that machines can understand them more efficiently and do their jobs. This is also a huge opportunity.
The third is creating the digital twin of this world. Computing is the capability and mapping is evolving to such an extent that we can now create a true digital twin, which has a fundamental impact on how we go about our work.
When we have a digital twin, I can better simulate a natural phenomenon. Take the example of earthquakes, floods and other disasters. Now we can simulate how solar energy and wind and clean energy can be used better and we can better manage our natural resources.
Why have maps become a big difference to businesses?
Over the years, businesses have been competing on the maps, which has become a huge difference. If you are a Swiggy or Uber or Ola, you can really improve your profitability and customer service significantly if you have a good map. That’s the one gap we’re helping these big companies bridge. That’s why all these big customers join us on how to improve their maps.
Why do you need to constantly upgrade maps? And, how can a good map help improve the bottom line?
The map is now another virtual nervous system. The digital nervous system should have that kind of response and access. In the earlier days, there were paper maps where the applications were very simple. it was okay when you drive and ask your way and read [the map] somewhere. In a digital world, this is all real-time, and you are part of a system. If you are an e-commerce company, then the entire network is part of your system, where every component has to respond and feedback comes from every component of the system. So maps have to be enabled now, they have to be very digital, they have to be very responsive, they have to be consistent – on a minute-by-minute basis – adapted to the information that you’re getting from your customers. your distribution partner.
If you just have a map and your delivery partner goes somewhere and delivers, and you’re not capturing the location, you’ve missed the opportunity to update the address and location in the map one at a time.
Today a map is a form of living digital content that is constantly being updated by all users participating in that map. In the future, it is only going to be even more involved and so it will become an open portal. If you see the Apple Photos application, or any other such application now, a common way to find your data is to look for the location. So you go to a map, then you click on that place and then you see photos at that place, then you go deeper and you get more and more photos for that particular place.
So Maps has evolved from just a secondary or ancillary app, for your purpose, to a core component of your overall digital strategy. And new business models are being made possible because of maps.
What has been your association with global majors in map making?
We developed maps for Tele Atlas, which was later acquired and part of TomTom [personal navigation device], Then, we helped Google with them [open web-based platform] Map Development Initiative in India. And now, recently, we were the ones who started the development of Apple Maps in India, which is currently one of the largest map development programs in the world. Apple came out with its new maps and RMSI was at the center of it.
We are currently providing Apple Maps with all services related to the development, maintenance of the map and working with them in the rollout of the map. Today, we have thousands of people working on this project and we continue to support Apple in all of their mapping programs around the world. The new Apple Maps is done [well]-Acquired by consumers and even during the COVID times in the past few months, we have started our onsite operations in the US for Apple Maps. In California and Seattle, we now have about 150 people who have started this program. We’re also working with Facebook and Amazon to help improve their mapping apps. Since the mapping industry began to grow in the early 90s, RMSI has been at the forefront of supporting some of the largest programs in the world and continues to do so today.
Want the size and global presence of your Maps business?
This is a very important business for us and is growing rapidly over the last year despite the COVID issues. We anticipate growing 30% this year [globally], Next year, we anticipate even greater growth. We are growing very fast in terms of operations not only in India but across the globe. There are more than 5,000 people in our company. Last year, our onsite presence in the US grew. Last year in the UK, we added 50 more people, and then in India, we have recruited about 1,500 people during the pandemic. We are benefiting from the digitization of the global economy, there is more focus on better digital content, which in our case means better maps, which is a great opportunity and we see more of it moving forward.
What are the growth opportunities?
One way of growth for us is our business with the large technical customers we already have, and we see that we can do much more with them. We are working in the field of mapping but now we want to provide them digital outsourcing services also. As a company, we understand the need for digitization and specialized services to support digitization. Therefore, we are talking about digital services that support AI and ML, such as special labeling, special annotation, mark-up services. Also, there is a need for specialized content management services, which is what we are introducing. This will be a big growth driver for us.
The next development is driven by the development of driver mapping. We are spending a lot of time studying the shortcomings of maps for India. We still feel that maps are not sufficient in India, they are not of the required quality for a country like India. We have set up an elite group that will lead our initiative for maps in India, you’ll hear more about that.
The third big growth area is around sustainability for which we see potential in agriculture, clean energy and disaster management, and for all three important drivers, we have specific proposals.
The fourth driver is the change of network. Be it utility or telecom networks, they are also rapidly becoming digital and with digitization, they are creating new opportunities for growth ranging from data management to analytics and even software solutions.
What plans are in the pipeline for India?
We do most of our business outside India. And the areas in India where we are focusing on the new generation maps for India and secondly it is the whole idea of sustainability in which we are working in the areas of disaster risk reduction, agrotechnologies in the Indian market. In the coming years, we also see India as a major growth driver for our business.
What kind of talent do you hire? What is the Recruitment Program?
A lot of hiring happened in India. Usually we hire people who are editors, or who are young engineers, then we also did a lot of hiring outside India in markets where we were starting to engage with big customers. In addition, we have hired a lot of people in business roles to expand our business around the world. So now we’re investing heavily in sales and marketing.
Detail your expansion plan
We’re going to be investing in the US and Canada, because that continues to be our biggest market. In the UK, we already have an office. We will focus on expansion in continental Europe. We are already present in Australia and there are still more opportunities to expand local operations. Southeast Asia is of great interest to us. We want to establish our base in one of the Southeast Asian countries and the Middle East is also where we have started investing. We are looking at Saudi Arabia from where we want to target the African region, where we see a huge opportunity.
What is lacking in neighborhood maps in India?
In India, we are working on providing maps for the areas which are not considered to be mappable, because the next big opportunity in India is not going to be in the colonies which we have already mapped, But these are going to be extremely dense. Urban areas, where there is no map.
Imagine a situation where the delivery boy calls someone and says, ‘You come out and meet me and I will give you my packet because I can’t come in, I don’t know where your address is’. That’s why we have started addressing these types of problems through our unique initiatives.
,