Magic Lane: Not a Map, a Location Intelligence Platform

There is only one thing worse than trying to enter the automotive industry and that is trying to enter the automotive navigation business.? Perhaps that is why Magic Lane, an OpenStreetMap-based startup, is initially focusing on fleet and micromobility markets to deploy its new vision of mapping and navigation.

At the core of the Magic Lane message is a map application that can “run on sand” in the words of CEO Raymond Alves.? More importantly, the new location intelligence platform?guarantees user privacy and enables access to thousands of data layers suitable to customize its implementation for any use case imaginable.

When I first learned of Magic Lane I steeled myself against the potential for heartbreak.? I was afraid of liking the people and liking the technology while anticipating failure. For decades HERE (the former Navteq, previously owned by Nokia and now owned by a consortium that includes Audi, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW) and TomTom have battled over what they hoped would remain a profitable duopoly.? Instead, these one-time “duopolists” find themselves fending off margin-narrowing dashboard incursions from Googlemaps and OSM-users Mapbox and NNG.? (Contenders such as Telenav and Sygic have already stepped aside.)

Automotive navigation is a brutal business that appears to be shrinking even as more and more cars come with maps and map-centric applications. It's not for the faint of heart.

Magic Lane is pursuing all of the non-traditional automotive opportunities which each come with an assortment of unique attribute requirements for navigating in unmapped areas ranging from footpaths and side streets to open terrain.? This vision opens the door to a solution provider with a map and navigation that can run with or without connectivity.

Magic Lane's is especially well suited to emergency response and the needs of emergency responders.? It is also a fit for the expanding realm of micromobility, whether electric bikes or scooters or 2-, 3-, or 4-wheeled delivery cycles.

It’s clearly a very European vision, which is where Magic Lane has commenced its market penetration activities.? The E.U. is also particularly receptive to Magic Lane’s privacy commitment.

While U.S. consumers must cope daily with Google’s surveillance economy encompassing search, navigation (Googlemaps), Youtube, Gmail, Nest, and smart speakers all interwoven with Google’s advertising infrastructure, Magic Lane is surveillance-free.? Neither Magic Lane nor any advertiser will be peering over a user’s shoulder when Magic Lane is in use.

Magic Lane is integrated with more than 2,000 open-source databases available to application developers.? These resources are designed to give life to Magic Lane’s lightweight map and code.

TomTom and HERE continue to distinguish themselves by building their maps from scratch the old-fashioned way – making them better suited to supporting automated driving and, in some cases, advanced driving assist applications.? Mapbox has set itself apart with sexy graphics.? NNG offers the best of HERE/TomTom and OSM while layering in augmented reality and struggling with the same shrinking pie.

Magic Lane’s simplicity, offline capability, and data integration receptivity give it an edge and create an opening in an otherwise crowded, competitive, and generally unforgiving market.? Magic lane does support ADAS integration and turn-by-turn navigation and is available as a mobile app.

Magic Lane’s path may well lead to automotive integration, but the company is wisely steering clear in the short term.? Integration with search and generative AI applications is also inevitable.? But the attraction of a lightweight solution, infinitely enhance-able, capable of working offline, and ensuring privacy represents an attractive proposition anywhere in the world currently dominated by Google’s privacy annihilation.

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