Maps.me

Maps.me
Original author(s) Yury Melnichek, Alexander Borsuk, Viktor Govako
Developer(s) MapsWithMe GmbH, My.com
Initial release 2011
Stable release
8.3.3 / 2010
Repository
Edit this at Wikidata
Written in C++, Objective-C, Java
Operating system Android, iOS, BlackBerry
Size 103 MB Android[1] / 158 MB iOS[2]
License Apache License 2.0[3]
Website maps.me

Maps.me (styled as 'MAPS.ME') (formerly named MapsWithMe) is a mobile app for Android, iOS and BlackBerry that provides offline maps using OpenStreetMap data. In November 2014, it was acquired by Mail.Ru Group and became part of its My.com brand. In September 2015, the app was open sourced.[4] First, the whole team has developed an application in Belarus and Switzerland. Maps.me was founded by Yury Melnichek, Alexander Borsuk and Viktor Govako. Under the leadership of Alexander, MapsWithMe got its first 2.5M users worldwide. Yury Melnichek was leading the project from November 2013 until April 2016 when Evgeny Lisovskiy took over.[5] In early 2017 the philosophy of the app changed, leading it to be supported by unobtrusive adverts, which can be disabled from the settings menu.[6]

Features

  • Offline map data (custom compressed format)[7] that's updated approximately 1-2 times per month
  • GPS support
  • Offline search (by name, address, category and coordinates)
  • Offline routes for cars and by foot
  • Map Editor
  • Bookmarks
  • Auto-follow mode
  • Location and bookmarks sharing
  • KML import

Acquisition by Mail.ru Group

The application was initially developed by Zurich-based MapsWithMe GmbH with a development office in Minsk.

In 2012, MapsWithMe came in first in the Startup Monthly competition in Vilnius. The team won a nine-week traineeship in Silicon Valley as a prize.[8]

In November 2014, Maps.me was acquired by Mail.Ru Group to be integrated with My.com, and the app was made free of charge.[9] The engineering team was relocated to the Mail.Ru Group office in Moscow to continue working on the project.

Data source and technologies

All map data for Maps.me is taken from OpenStreetMap, a collaborative project to create a free editable map of the world. In addition, hotels are offered in partnership with Booking.com.[6]

Technologies used in the app:

API

Maps.me provides a free API to developers for both commercial and personal use.

YotaPhone

In 2013, developers of YotaPhone, a Russian smartphone with 2 displays (LCD front, e-ink back), requested MapsWithMe to develop a version of the app especially for the e-ink display of the device. MapsWithMe released a special version of the app optimized for both color and e-ink screens of the smartphone.[10]

The main screen allows users to see maps of all countries, drop pins on the map, and find their location. Then it is possible to move the maps to the e-ink display to use the map in the energy saving mode.

Currently, support of YotaPhone is excluded from last releases (as at 4 May 2016).

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Index of /apk/". maps.me.
  2. ↑ "iTunes AppStore Maps.Me". itunes.apple.com.
  3. ↑ "mapsme/omim". GitHub.
  4. ↑ "MAPS.ME on Twitter".
  5. ↑ Frolov, Andrey (11 April 2016). "Новым руководителем Maps.me стал директор по маркетингу «Литреса» Евгений Лисовский".
  6. 1 2 "MAPS.ME Now Shows 800,000 Hotels from Booking.com". 28 June 2016.
  7. ↑ "Maps.me map creation guide". Retrieved 2015-12-03.
  8. ↑ "Belarusian startup Mapswithme wins Startup Monthly in Lithuania". 16 April 2012.
  9. ↑ "Mail.Ru Group, One of the Largest Internet Companies in Europe, Acquires MAPS.ME". 13 Nov 2014. Retrieved 9 Dec 2014.
  10. ↑ "YotaPhone review: LCD on the front, E Ink on the back, unique all over".
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.