Late for the map war, how did Gao De, who was burned overseas, survive?

Editor/Li Jinlin

The monthly users have exceeded 400 million. Where is the next user scale growth point?

Gaode Map has turned its attention to overseas markets, which are the highland of outbound travel and also contain the growing overseas travel demand of users on holidays.

A few days ago, Shenxing announced its cooperation with HERE Map, which will provide Shenxing with map data and traffic information outside China to meet travel needs such as route planning and positioning, and the first batch will cover major countries in East Asia and Southeast Asia.

?

In other words, the overseas travel service of Gaode Map will be officially launched in 2020, which will not only serve C-end users, but also provide B-end services through open interfaces.

According to the enterprise survey, HERE map originated from Nokia, and now it is one of the leading enterprises in the field of overseas maps, with the same name as Google Maps and Apple Maps, and the map data covers more than 200 countries and regions.

In response to the overseas March of Gaode Map, there are voices that outbound travel is a "rich mine" and there is still a vast tourist space to be tapped. It is not too late for Gao De to enter the market;

There are voices questioning that Baidu map has seized overseas markets for three or four years, and Gaode map wants to shorten the gap between the two and is struggling;

There are also voices worried that in overseas markets dominated by giants such as Google Maps and Apple Maps, the living space of Gaode Map is worrying. ...

Lareina C, a fresh graduate with a strong literary flavor, has always had the masterpiece "Faint Woods" by the essayist Jian Zheng at her bedside. She likes the sentence in the book best: "The charm of travel is here, bearing this light and heavy life, and browsing her past lives and afterlife everywhere."

After working in an Internet finance company for more than half a year, Lareina C and her boyfriend chose to travel freely in Thailand on June 5438+1October 5, 2020. However, when they came to Bangkok, they found that there was no Google Maps app in the app store of their Android phones.

Traveling abroad with Google Maps is almost the choice of most travelers, but Lareina C didn't expect it to be a bit troublesome to download.

As a temporary emergency, Lareina C's Baidu map is used normally, while her boyfriend's Gaode map has only one blue dot, and the rest can't be displayed normally.

Although there were some twists and turns, at least one succeeded, and Lareina C's heart finally settled down.

Step out of Don Mueang Airport, get on the A 1 airport bus, arrive at Mengqi Station, walk to BTS Light Rail Station, arrive at Batumi in the center of Bangkok, stay in the hotel, and then slowly study with my boyfriend, and find that the map of Gaode can't be used abroad.

During the trip, Lareina C's Baidu map and her boyfriend's Google map confirmed each other. As they traveled from Bangkok to Pattaya, they also quietly changed their understanding: the accuracy and precision of domestic maps are basically close to Google Maps. Lareina C told Zinc Scale: "Now it seems that it is unnecessary to use Google Maps overseas."

Take a taxi through Grab in Bangkok and take a double bus in Pattaya. There is little difference between Baidu map and Google map in real-time location navigation, and only Google map has a slight advantage in walking navigation.

What happened to Lareina C and her boyfriend is also the dilemma that Gaode Map is currently facing. Being absent from overseas markets for a long time can't provide users with diversified choices, which is also a big shortcoming for Gaode Map to expand its global business.

Therefore, Gaode Map can access third-party services through cooperation, and then indirectly serve users. You can skip the process from 0 to 1 to complete the overseas rapid layout, and meet the travel needs of users from 1 to 10. This logic is no problem, but why choose here as a partner?

In 20 18, it was widely rumored that Google Maps returned to China, and domestic data was provided by Gaode Map, but this news was quickly denied by Gaode Map: "There is no plan to cooperate with Google Maps."

"Gaode Map doesn't want to be hijacked by Google Maps." A map industry veteran told the zinc scale that this is a good choice. "As early as 20 15, in order to get rid of the influence of Google Maps, BMW, Audi and Daimler bought it from Nokia for 2.5 billion euros. Since then, Intel, Tencent and NavInfo have invested in supporting HERE, shaping it into a basic map data service provider with the concept of' public' and becoming the preferred partner of travel platforms in some countries. "

This is also the reason why Baidu map overseas travel partners also choose here.

That question is coming again. The overseas basis of Gaode map and Baidu map is the same, and it is not difficult to play. When Baidu map took the first place in the domestic map track, 20 16 went to sea to open up a new battlefield.

At that time, Gaode Map had no time to follow up and cut into overseas markets in time, and adopted a strategy of concentrating its efforts on the strategic confrontation with Baidu Map in the domestic market.

If you lose the opportunity, you will inevitably be inexperienced.

The advantage of getting the first move is to accumulate more experience and know which niche scenes China people like to visit, which driving or walking routes they like to plan, which cities they stay in for a long time, and so on. These data will not be handed over to Gaode Map.

And these data are exactly what B-end users value. At present, overseas businesses of Internet companies such as Ctrip, Meituan Dianping, Momo and Mawei are all using Baidu maps.

Therefore, the market share left for Gaode Map is very limited.

According to many media reports, the penetration rate of Baidu map among outbound tourists is 50%, which means that one out of every two outbound tourists uses Baidu map, while the market share of Gaode map is relatively small.

However, some market participants also said that the outbound travel market has not yet been finalized, and the ceiling height is still variable. The case of the Internet track has been staged many times.

For Gaode Map, it is urgent to find a way to survive in overseas markets.

At present, overseas markets are dominated by giants such as Google Maps and Apple Maps, each with a broad "moat". Both Baidu map and Gaode map are unwilling to be rigid with it, and they all focus on the subdivision of outbound travel.

At one end of this track is the old enemy Baidu map, and at the other end are Google Maps and Apple Maps that are not used by domestic users (Editor's Note: Apple Maps are called Gaode Maps in China).

Old rivals are difficult to deal with. It is the best policy to imitate Baidu map and concentrate on eroding the market share of overseas giants. However, overseas giants are not vegetarians, and they will face great challenges if they want to snatch food from their mouths.

Google Maps is recognized as the global map overlord, and it has accumulated a very popular reputation. In Zhihu, Ctrip, Qunar, Mahoneycomb and other places, Google Maps is often one of the most recommended map apps. Undeniably, it has great appeal to outbound tourists in terms of accuracy and ease of use.

And the strength of Apple Maps should not be underestimated.

Since the launch of Apple Maps against Google in 20 12, Apple has improved and achieved qualitative changes year by year from a failed product that has been ridiculed for its poor basic functions, and even imitated Google's self-built map data, thus having the strength to wrestle with Google Maps, which has also been recognized by some iOS users.

The difficulty for Gaode Map to survive overseas is to compete with Google Map's high reputation and Apple Map's high user stickiness, and to test its product polishing and market operation skills.

An anonymous person told Zinc Scale that the initial gameplay of Gaode Map may take reward routes such as red envelopes or oil cards to attract outbound tourists to try in advance, and then expand the territory with the convenience of being used at home and abroad.

Weidong, vice president of Gaode Map and general manager of AMAP Platform Division, said that there is still an overall consideration for entering overseas: "Helping industry partners and the globalization process of Ali Ecosphere."

From this point of view, no matter how competitive the map is, no matter how difficult the industry is, we should give it a try, and it is reasonable to adopt the strategy of burning money.

At present, it is inconclusive whether Gaode Map can survive in the cracks between Google Map, Apple Map and Baidu Map, but it is undeniable that it is very difficult.

Optimistically, the addition of Gao De may give a new interpretation to the future overseas map wars.