Strategy Analytics: Automotive, transportation, logistics and IoT will drive growth in the location sector in 2020

Here maintains leadership in location-based platforms

The latest research report released by Strategy Analytics, "Positioning Platform Benchmarking Report: 2020", predicts that the demand for location services will continue to grow strongly as numerous industries and use cases (including automotive, transportation and logistics, mobility and asset management) realize the importance of location intelligence. The report identifies the demand drivers for location services in these key industries. The global positioning companies evaluated in Strategy Analytics' annual benchmark include: Google, HERE, Mapbox and TomTom; HERE demonstrated leadership and strong capabilities on most attributes, followed by Google, TomTom and Mapbox.

The outlook for the positioning industry remains bright. Nitesh Patel, Director at Strategy Analytics, noted: “The need for positioning services will continue to evolve, with visual digital maps today providing the technology to support driver navigation. However, Strategy Analytics estimates that by 2030, as the long-term vision of assisted driving and autonomous vehicles becomes a reality, 10% of light-duty delivery vehicles will be powered by high-definition (HD) machine maps. In addition, to maximize operational efficiency, fleet managers now look beyond truck-specific routing to seek the most accurate ETA, precision navigation to exact pickup and delivery locations, and the ability to assess driver performance given current road conditions.”

Strategy Analytics evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of global location companies Google, HERE, Mapbox and TomTom, using criteria including mapping capabilities, automotive strength, map visualization, developer appeal, and openness and flexibility. Google and HERE lead in mapping capabilities, with Google leading in local search and developer reach. HERE also leads in automotive and industry growth vision, and has excellent results in other areas. TomTom is strong in multiple areas, including transportation, while Mapbox excels in visualization.

David Kerr, Senior Vice President at Strategy Analytics, noted: “HERE maintains its lead in our latest location platform benchmark, with Google close behind. The competition among location platforms remains intense, with the goal of delivering the highest quality, up-to-date and accurate maps in real-time to meet the growing demands of multiple industries. Location platforms that can meet the evolving needs of a wide range of industries, while remaining open, flexible and developer-friendly, will be most likely to succeed.”