Meta, one of the founding members of Overture Maps Foundation, has successfully transitioned its suite of global basemaps used across apps such as Facebook and Instagram to Overture’s base data layers, demonstrating the power and potential of open, interoperable map data. This case study explores the background, benefits, and future implications of this significant shift.
Background
In late 2020, Meta launched its basemap across its apps, including Facebook and other experiences. This global multiscale map serves as a foundational layer, showing various geographic features onto which our products can blend other spatially contextual information like popular places. Meta’s applications (i.e., Facebook, Instagram, and others) use the basemap to connect people through features such as Location Tagging for photos or checking in during natural disasters.
To bootstrap increased data controls and quality, Meta collaborated with other companies to publish the Daylight Map Distribution. The goal was to build an up-to-date, validated, global basemap using OpenStreetMap that could power all of Meta’s use cases. Daylight included validation checks designed to find and correct mapping errors, building footprint detections, lidar derived building heights, name translations, and a global land cover layer. This global dataset was made publicly available and has served the maps at Meta for the past five years.
As a founding member of Overture, Meta has been deeply involved in developing the processes that produce Overture’s published data. In fact, the very same validation processes and pipelines that were used in Daylight are also now used to produce Overture’s regular data releases.
The Transition to Overture
Motivation:
- Access to a growing ecosystem of interoperable datasets
- Shared responsibility for map data creation and maintenance
- Collaborative improvement of map data quality
Meta cofounded the Overture Maps Foundation to build reliable, easy-to-use, and interoperable open map data. Among other advantages, this allows Meta to share the ongoing work of map data creation, validation and aggregation with other Overture members and the greater open map community.
In adopting Overture’s data for their maps, Meta realizes the following benefits:
1. Access to New Datasets
With Meta’s global basemaps powered by Overture, Meta gains access to an entire ecosystem of datasets curated by Overture and contributed by various Overture members. Using Overture’s new reference system (GERS), it has ingested building footprints from Microsoft, Google, Esri, and OpenStreetMap to increase building coverage to 2.3B footprints (900M net new). As Overture’s adoption and data contributions from members continue to evolve, Meta will see more interoperable datasets (e.g., new roads, unified addresses, high-confidence places) become available to support use cases for Meta and users of Overture data.
2. Shared Basemap Validation
Meta is working with Overture to leverage the robust validation and QA processes that have been successfully implemented in Daylight, thereby ensuring that all users can benefit from the advanced techniques and methodologies developed by the collective expertise of Overture’s members.
3. Improved Outcomes by Building With Industry Partners
As all member companies go through this adoption and migration process, they will identify bugs, missing features, and other improvements for their own systems. Meta will automatically receive these benefits by using Overture directly.
Meta’s Basemaps Are Now Powered by Overture
- Billions of people now interact with Overture map data when using Facebook, Instagram, and other Meta experiences.
- Overture basemaps deliver improved accuracy and coverage for location-based features across Meta’s applications
Future Outlook
- Anticipation of additional interoperable datasets (e.g., new roads, unified addresses, high-confidence places) to support Meta’s use cases
- Continued collaboration with Overture members to expand and improve the global map dataset
- Exploration of new location-based features and services enabled by Overture’s comprehensive data
Conclusion
Meta’s adoption of Overture Maps demonstrates the power of open, collaborative mapping efforts. By leveraging Overture’s data and GERS IDs, Meta has not only improved its own mapping capabilities but also contributed to a more robust and interoperable global mapping ecosystem.
As Jan Erik Solem, chair of the Overture steering committee and director of maps at Meta, states: “Overture represents a paradigm shift in how we approach mapping, and GERS is the cornerstone of what makes Overture unique. They provide a stable foundation upon which we can build increasingly sophisticated and interconnected mapping solutions.”
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