ZOOMING IN ON LOCATION

The geospatial information that mapping companies can develop is a billion-dollar business opportunity

- K. SUNIL THOMAS

Many of us would never forget those missiles raining down on Iraq during Operation Desert Storm, with fluorescent flares lighting up the night sky, and fighter jets taking off aircraft carriers-all being telecast into living rooms. Indeed, a dramatic way for satellite television to make its big bang entrance into India.

Curiously enough, war on live TV wasn't the only new thing the world witnessed. As the US assured Iraqi citizens that the safest place they could be every night was in their beds since it was using a technology to locate, pinpoint and bomb military and strategic targets, the world also saw the public unveiling of a revolutionary new technology-GPS, or the global positioning system, which navigated missiles to their precise target.

Yes, the same live mapping system that today you have on your smartphone. Digital mapping is currently dominated by Google, but it offers unlimited possibilities and some Indian players are already in the fray.

Last summer, Ola, which is a ride hailing app and an electric scooter maker, declared that it would stop using Google Maps, which was costing the company "*100 crore a year", and assured the arrival of its own maps venture. Exiting Google Maps wasn't just about a product, said Ola's founder Bhavish Aggarwal. "It's a battle cry for India's technological freedom. India is now ready to take its place as a leader on the global tech stage."