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Outpacing Google: Hivemapper Tops 5 Million Unique Kilometers Mapped
Hivemapper’s decentralized approach to data collection is redefining the pace and utility of global mapping.
We designed Hivemapper as a decentralized, privacy-centric network to collect map data faster than ever before — and it’s working. Today, we’re thrilled to share that the Hivemapper community has mapped 5 million unique kilometers of roads across more than 90 countries, representing more than 8% of the world’s roadways.
What stands out is the swift pace — we achieved this milestone just eight months after the network began to scale earlier this year. To put it in perspective:
- It took Google 5 years from the 2007 launch of Street View to map 5 million miles, or 8 million kilometers. Hivemapper has covered more than half that distance since early 2023.
- Hivemapper has cumulatively mapped 50 million total kilometers, consistently refreshing the map for the most highly traveled roads while providing a reliable and continually updated data stream for our customers.
- Hivemapper is also outpacing crowdsourced mapping projects. Our community has collected 3 billion street-level images to date. For comparison, Meta’s street-level imagery platform Mapillary, launched in 2013, says it has accumulated 1.8 billion images in 10 years — while we achieved 3 billion images in just 8 months. Let that sink in.
One reason Hivemapper has outpaced smartphone-based projects such as Mapillary is our specialized dashcams, which allow contributors to consistently capture high-quality imagery without fiddling with setup every time they get behind the wheel. Using the Solana blockchain, Hivemapper has created an incentivized, community-sourced digital map that rewards contributors promptly and securely in HONEY tokens. On average, Hivemapper contributors are now mapping more than 900 km per week.
Seeing this progress, leading enterprises seeking recent and extensive street-level maps and imagery are already turning to Hivemapper. We expect to share more details on these exciting developments soon.
Most importantly, this accelerated growth signals positive shifts in the mapping industry:
- Increased Competition:Hivemapper’s emergence diversifies the mapping market and reduces monopolistic control, leading to lower prices, better service innovations, and reduced risks of service disruptions. Offering a decentralized approach to data collection, Hivemapper provides cost-effective solutions: our Map Image API, providing all imagery for a given road kilometer per week, is priced at $1 per km, while our Map Features API, which provides all road signs and traffic lights, costs $4 per km.
- Inclusive Geographic Coverage:By scaling rapidly, Hivemapper can cover previously overlooked regions, ensuring that businesses operating in these zones aren’t left in the dark. Individuals are mapping their own areas, democratizing geographic coverage — they no longer have to wait for a tech giant to decide that their region is worth mapping. This grassroots approach has led to strong coverage gains in places such as Malaysia, Taiwan, and South Korea — not just the United States and Western Europe.
- Frequent Coverage = Greater Accuracy:Repeated data collection acts as a validation mechanism, continually refining potential inaccuracies — precision that is crucial for sectors like autonomous vehicles. In fact, the average road in Hivemapper’s database has been mapped 10 times this year, providing multiple layers of validation. This frequency far outpaces traditional services like Google Street View, which might only update a specific area every few years.
- Enhanced Decision Making:Faster data collection ensures that businesses can access up-to-date insights allowing for timely decisions like identifying prime real estate locations or rerouting logistics based on recent road changes. With specialized tools like HONEY Bursts, Hivemapper goes a step further, enabling customers to incentivize the collection of near real-time map data in targeted areas of interest.
- Powerful Integration Capabilities:Apart from a rich collection of street-level images, Hivemapper has advanced machine-learning features. We work closely with leading companies to integrate Hivemapper’s resources into their existing pipelines, enhancing both the depth and the utility of the data available to our clients.
Looking Ahead
Hivemapper’s data milestones in its inaugural year underscore a powerful, emerging network effect. The map’s increasing depth and utility is unlocking greater value for commercial enterprises. The ensuing cycle — where extensive street-level data attracts more contributors and map customers, who in turn contribute and consume even richer data — will continue to accelerate Hivemapper’s impact.
The journey ahead for Hivemapper is filled with opportunity. We expect to surpass 10 million unique kilometers in 2024, outpacing Google by years, as we continue to scale our community and enhance support for commercial enterprises in our effort to build the world’s most up-to-date and comprehensive map.
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