January 7, 2020

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- “ Strategy Analytics predicts continued strong growth in demand for location services as the importance of location intelligence is realized across multiple industries and use-cases: including automotive, transport and logistics, mobility, and asset management. “Location Platform Benchmark Report: 2020,” identifies demand drivers for location services across these key sectors. Furthermore, in Strategy Analytics’ annual benchmark of global location companies, Google, HERE, Mapbox, and TomTom; HERE demonstrates leadership and strong capability across most attributes, followed closely by Google, then TomTom, and then Mapbox.

The outlook for the location industry remains bright. Nitesh Patel, Director, Strategy Analytics noted, “Needs for location services will continue to evolve. For example, visual digital maps power driver navigation today. However, Strategy Analytics estimates that by 2030 10% of shipped light duty vehicles will be powered by high definition (HD) machine maps as the long term vision for assisted driving and autonomous vehicles is realized. Additionally, to maximize operational efficiencies fleet managers are now looking beyond truck specific routing, and also seeking the most accurate ETAs, pin-point navigation to exact pick-up and delivery locations, and the ability to assess driver performance in the context of prevailing road conditions.”

Strategy Analytics’ assessed the strengths and weaknesses of global location companies, Google, HERE, Mapbox and TomTom, across characteristics including map making capabilities, strength in automotive, map visualization, appeal to developers, and openness and flexibility. Google and HERE lead in map-making capabilities, with Google also leading in local search and developer reach. HERE also leads in automotive and industry growth vision, and scored strongly in other areas. TomTom is strong across multiple areas, including traffic, while Mapbox stands out in visualization.

David Kerr, Senior Vice President at Strategy Analytics, noted “HERE maintains leadership in our latest location platform benchmark, with Google following. However, competition between location platforms remains intense with the goal of delivering the most high-quality, up-to-date and accurate maps in real-time to meet the growing demands of multiple industries. Location platforms capable of meeting the evolving requirements of a broad range of companies across a variety of verticals, while remaining open and flexible, and developer friendly will be best positioned to succeed.”