Amap

Amap, known in Chinese as Gaode (高德), is a Chinese digital mapping, navigation and location-based services platform. It is best known to consumers through the Gaode Map mobile app, which provides turn-by-turn driving, walking and public-transit navigation, real-time traffic information, points-of-interest search, ride-hailing aggregation and in-app booking of taxis and other mobility services. The brand is one of the two dominant consumer map applications in mainland China and is a core asset of Alibaba Group's local-services ecosystem. The business originated as AutoNavi, a Chinese mapping and navigation technology company founded in the early 2000s that supplied digital map data and navigation software to automotive and mobile customers. AutoNavi became a publicly listed company on Nasdaq before being taken private and acquired by Alibaba Group, after which the consumer-facing brand was consolidated under the Gaode name. Under Alibaba, Amap has been positioned less as a pure map utility and more as a "mobility and local-life" gateway: it aggregates third-party ride-hailing supply, integrates public transport and payment through Alipay, and connects users to nearby restaurants, shops, charging stations and other local services. Amap's revenue model rests on a mix of enterprise map-data licensing to automakers and internet companies, advertising and marketing services inside the app, and commissions and referral fees from mobility and local-services partners. Its competitive position depends on the depth and freshness of its map data, its traffic and routing algorithms, and its integration with Alibaba's commerce, payment and logistics assets. The brand is a household name among Chinese drivers and smartphone users and is routinely ranked among the country's most-used navigation apps. Because the supplied evidence for this entry concerns unrelated automotive news and does not describe Amap, the details above are drawn from well-established public knowledge of the brand; specific figures, dates and executive names that could not be verified have been omitted rather than guessed.

Amap's corporate lineage begins with AutoNavi (高德软件), a Chinese mapping-technology company established in the early 2000s that built digital map databases and navigation software. AutoNavi supplied map data and navigation products to automotive OEMs, portable navigation device makers and, later, smartphone platforms, and it obtained the mapping and navigation service qualifications required to operate in China, a regulated market where digital map production is licensed. AutoNavi listed its shares on the Nasdaq stock market, giving it capital to expand its map coverage and its automotive and mobile businesses. As smartphones spread in China, the company shifted its center of gravity from in-car navigation and licensed data toward a free consumer mobile app, where scale and daily usage became the strategic priority rather than per-unit software sales. Alibaba Group acquired AutoNavi, taking the company private and folding it into its ecosystem. The consumer brand was consolidated as Gaode Map (高德地图), and the app was progressively integrated with Alibaba's payment, commerce and local-services assets. This period also saw the map app repositioned from a navigation utility into a broader mobility platform: it began aggregating third-party ride-hailing fleets rather than operating vehicles itself, added taxi calling, and connected users to nearby merchants, charging networks and other local services. Competition in Chinese consumer mapping has been intense, with the market dominated by a small number of large platforms backed by major internet groups. Amap's response has been to lean on data quality, traffic and routing accuracy, and ecosystem integration, while monetizing through enterprise map-data licensing, advertising and partner commissions. The brand remains one of the most widely installed navigation apps in China and a strategic component of Alibaba's local-services strategy.

• AutoNavi (高德软件) founded as a Chinese digital mapping and navigation technology company.

• AutoNavi lists its shares on Nasdaq.

• Alibaba Group acquires AutoNavi and takes the company private.

• Consumer brand consolidated as Gaode Map (高德地图) and integrated with Alibaba's payment and local-services ecosystem.

• App expands from navigation into aggregated ride-hailing and local-services discovery.

Mass-market consumer navigation and mobility gateway in China, monetized through map-data licensing, in-app advertising and local-services referrals.

• Gaode Map (Amap) mobile app

  Free consumer navigation app offering driving, walking and transit routing, real-time traffic, POI search and in-app mobility booking.

• Enterprise map data and navigation licensing

  Digital map databases and navigation software licensed to automotive OEMs and internet companies.

• Ride-hailing aggregation

  Aggregates third-party ride-hailing supply and taxi services within the map app.

• 2026-10-22

  Amap updates support for iPhone Duo[2]高德地图适配 iPhone Duofinance.sina.com.cn

  Reported: 2026-10-22

  Amap announced that its app had been optimized for iPhone Duo, and said users could experience the update by updating the app to the latest version.

• 2026-10-22

  Amap announces split-screen navigation for foldable iPhone[2]高德地图适配 iPhone Duofinance.sina.com.cn

  Reported: 2026-10-22

  Amap announced that it would soon launch a split-screen navigation feature designed for foldable iPhones, showing lane-level guidance alongside the farther route and traffic conditions.

• 2026-08-29

  Amap releases ABot-Recon streaming 3D reconstruction model[3]高德发布流式3D重建模型ABot-Reconfinance.sina.com.cn

  Reported: 2026-08-29

  Alibaba's Amap released ABot-Recon, described as the first ten-thousand-frame-level streaming 3D reconstruction model without long-range dependency, using only 12 consecutive local frames to reconstruct 3D scenes in real time. The company said it reduces peak GPU memory to about 6.71GB, roughly one third of comparable models, and achieves 24.45 FPS on the KITTI-02 benchmark, 1.24 times the inference speed of representative methods, with average trajectory error 40.6% lower than LingBot-Map on the Oxford Spires benchmark. Inference and evaluation code and weights were open-sourced on GitHub and a demo area launched on ModelScope.

• 2020-02-04

  Amap launches medicine-delivery mini program[4]高德上线“送药上门”小程序tech.sina.com.cn

  Reported: 2020-02-04

  Amap launched a “medicine delivery to your door” mini program.

1. 1Amap official websiteamap.com
2. 2高德地图适配 iPhone Duofinance.sina.com.cn
3. 3高德发布流式3D重建模型ABot-Reconfinance.sina.com.cn
4. 4高德上线“送药上门”小程序tech.sina.com.cn
5. 5高德发布3D重建模型ABot-Recon：12帧可重建万帧3D场景tech.ifeng.com
6. 6高德发布首个无长程依赖的万帧级流式3D重建模型ABot-Recon：显存降60% 速度快24%finance.sina.com.cn
7. 7高德全面适配iPhone Duo，将推出针对可折叠设计iPhone的分屏导航_原创_科技频道首页_财经网 - CAIJING.COM.CNtech.caijing.com.cn