This feels like a distraction for Uber. The maps are well documented, the real challenge is applying layers over the map that expose different logistically enabled opportuities to create value for consumers. The underlying maps can and should be provided by a mapping specialiist, like HERE, MapQuest or Google, among just a few API-offering map services.
Ride-sharing firm Uber is following in Google’s footsteps — quite literally — by sending out a fleet of mapping vehicles across the United States and Mexico, and hopes to have similar vehicles on the road in the other 76 countries in which it operates by the end of 2017.
Source: Google isn’t enough — Uber needs to re-map the world