Mapping tools benefit enterprises in industries like logistics, retail, and real estate. They are essential for route optimization, fleet management, and delivery tracking. Retailers use mapping tools to choose optimal store locations, analyze customer demographics, and manage supply chains. They also help real estate companies assess property values, analyze market trends, and identify development opportunities.
Key takeaways
- Google Maps is popular, but its capabilities are limited
- Route mapping tools should consider construction, accidents, traffic volume
- Enterprise-level mapping tools incorporate billions of edges and nodes
- It’s not possible to load them all into memory
- The graph is divided into segments to be scalable
- You calculate the weight between the edges linking nodes
As of August 2024, Google Maps had more than a billion monthly active users. In the US, Google Maps has over 158 million unique users per month. The tool generates more than 69,000 searches per second and has been downloaded over 5 billion times on Google Play.
However, Google Maps has limitations. Let’s take exterior lighting as an example. Some companies use Google Maps to document fixture locations and types within their contracted properties. Obviously, the maps need to be shared with clients, and that’s where issues arise. Google Maps is good as a free tool, but sharing maps in different formats is complicated, such as PDF. Clients need a Gmail account to view the maps.
The best maps software for this enterprise-level application would allow you to provide legends, map different types of fixtures (using different colors or shapes), and save the maps as PDF or another format. Clients should be able to view the maps as needed.
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Assessing the scalability of route mapping tools
Let’s take another application: route mapping tools. Enterprises like Lyft, Uber, and Waymo use these tools internally. The map application deals with billions of edges and nodes when determining routes worldwide. Dijkstra or another standard pathfinding algorithm would provide a poor user experience by not scaling to this volume. A modified version of the algorithm is needed.
The ETA should consider road construction, accidents, and traffic volume in the context of the route and update accordingly. Traffic volume is consistently rising. Travel on all streets and roads increased by 4.8 billion vehicle miles in February 2024, year over year, for a total of 240.2 billion vehicle miles.
Enterprise-level mapping tools incorporate a network of billions of edges and nodes. You can’t run the shortest path algorithm on the graph to calculate the shortest route between nodes. It’s not possible to load all the edges and nodes into memory. To ensure scalability, the graph is broken down into small segments. This leads to smaller polygons, and calculating the shortest path is easier. You can improve performance by querying the polygons in parallel.
Calculating the shortest path between nodes in one segment
There’s a weight between the edges linking two nodes in a segment. You calculate the weight depending on average vehicle speed, traffic density, etc. Then, the segment is saved, and you can run a standard short-path algorithm and cache the results to use again in the future. It’s possible to scale to a degree because you’re only loading segments based on user requests. It’s necessary to use multiple servers if segment data volume increases. If you’re only using one, its performance will deteriorate.
FAQ
What are the metrics of a scalable system?
A scalable system has three standard metrics: resource use (memory and CPU), transactions per second, and response time.
How does mapping technology work?
This technology uses high-tech cameras, satellites, and computer software to collect data and create maps. Cloud and web-based solutions like Maptive don’t require downloads. You always have access to the most current data, which you can access from any device.
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Whether she is researching the latest trends in home decor, life-changing destination getaways, or the best way to maintain your finances, Dewey takes pride in leaving no stone unturned. She is passionate about distilling and delivering high-quality information that you can use to upgrade your life.
