Taking the main stage at this year's AWS Summit ASEAN event was Grab who also shared about the GrabMaps mapping system that uses AWS. Last year Grab used GrabMaps in most of the cities that offered their service.
Since the first day Grab started, when it was still known as MyTeksi in 2013, they have used the S3 AWS system in their application. S3 which is Simple Storage Solutions from AWS is a file storage system whose capacity can be increased, depending on the use of the application.
Until now, Grab has used AWS services a lot in their technology stack, and mapping is a very important thing in their entire application offering. However, the mapping offered could not meet their needs, and was not very accurate, causing them to build their own mapping system powered by AWS.
Grab Product Head Philipp Kandal stated that this mapping project aims to ensure that every niche that cannot be accessed by other mapping companies, can be mapped more often. Even for dense cities, they also map the road using cameras mounted on the helmets of Grab motorcyclists and also use a total of 5 million registered drivers and dispatchers, as well as feedback from the community.
And as a result of using GrabMaps there is an increase of 7% of journeys that can be completed every hour, and reduce the problem of getting lost among drivers. In fact, they also welcome other developers and owners to also use GrabMaps API which is available in the form of Routing, Traffic, Search and also Map Tiles API.
With the existence of GrabMaps, it can not only reduce the subscription cost of mapping services, but it also brings a service that has evolved after 10 years, from a startup that started as an AWS user to an API (Application Programming Interface) provider for other startups.