After 2 years in “stealth mode,” NYC-based mapping company called Carmera publically launched with $6.4m in new funding.
Their idea is simple: create “good, but efficient, affordable, and accessible” 3D, up-to-date maps — that anyone can use. Suuper easy.
See, right now the mapping data market is like Goldilocks and the 3 bears. Google has the best data, but it’s not for sale. GPS companies (Like TomTom) sell decent, expensive data but only to car companies, and crowdsourced projects are free, but frankly, just awful.
Carmera wants to be juuuussst right
But rather than buying a bunch of cars and driving around the world like the crayon line in a badly-completed maze, Carmera is doing something innovative — putting their sensors on existing delivery company fleets.
And in return for strapping Carmera sensors to their vehicles, partners will get free video monitoring and data analytics on their fleet. A win-win.
This. This right here. More people should do this
We need to come up with a name for this type of arrangement. It’s mutualistic symbiosis for the business world.
Like those tiny cleaner fish who pick off bacteria from the sharks and get a free meal out of it.
Umm how about a “Singapore back scratch?” It has absolutely nothing to do with Singapore, but whatever, sounded right…