Ola Maps: This time it's different?

Nationalism as a GTM strategy: Ola is pushing the limits with Maps

After boycotting Microsoft and switching to Krutrim cloud, Ola’s Bhavish is back. This time, he is saying no to Google maps and switching to Ola maps.

While there is a lot of chatter around Ola just rebranding an open-source tech, i.e. OpenStreet maps to Ola maps and making it sound like a big deal, I’d like to believe that they do bring (real-time) data to the table.

Unlike such nationalistic claims by many companies, the big difference this time is that Ola has Ola electric - i.e. millions of EV bikes using Ola maps, which gives it a strong leverage to collect data on a real time basis (the data may not be at par with Google but I’d like to believe that it will be soon at par with MapMyIndia’s data - which could be a great start).

Our AI first data systems utilize real time data from millions of vehicles using Ola Maps, fleet of Ola S1’s equipped with 360 cameras, open-source government data repositories, OpenStreetMap, partnerships and proprietary sources to build essential map features such as roads, points of interest, street furniture, building geometry and traffic signals.

Our data ecosystem is built on the principle of crowd-sourced geo-mapping information leveraging Ola Maps massive user base, Open street maps, open source Government data repositories and other proprietary sources. Our system harnesses the wealth of location information generated by anonymised GPS pings & curated using AI models. The sensor data generated from 2-wheeler, 3-wheeler & 4-wheeler helps in identifying missing roads, real time traffic congestion & road restrictions and many such data points. - via/Ola’s blog

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Essentially, Ola is building a flywheel with Ola Electric at its core and is building its own ecosystem (powered by data from Ola’s EVs to Ola cabs).

The Big Question

The nationalistic claims add to the PR (when is PM Modi doing a mann ki baat around this topic?) and will hopefully help Ola with a blockbuster IPO, but the core question remains 👇🏼

What happens when the nationalism PR fizz is over?