#foundersfriday: Mapbox and Porsche
Our series #foundersfriday presents collaborations and investments between Porsche and startups — explained in a nutshell. Today: Mapbox.
Background?
No matter how driving will look like in the future, Porsche is sure of one thing: We will need excellent maps. And not just for navigation. Thinking about how to enhance Porsche’s future vehicle experience, maps would then mainly be a tool for exploration and not for navigation. Robots will most likely take over boring shuttle journeys and people will only drive for fun: e.g. through the mountains or along the coast.
Therefore, Porsche’s goal is using the navigation function of its cars in order to make exploring the world on four wheels even more entertaining and emotional. Mapbox’s software is very useful for this challenge, as it allows users to create their own maps. Gana Meissner, Porsche’s director of UX and UI, calls it “a tool designers and artists alike can use to try things out and experiment.“
Meissner’s team first came across the open source mapping platform Mapbox last year while developing the interior graphics for the Mission E Turismo concept. Both companies met last year at Slush, the startup conference in Helsinki, and decided to cooperate. In a current project, designers from the two companies are looking togetherfor new ways to use maps in cars to get from one place to another as efficiently as possible.
Why Mapbox?
Mapbox was founded as a Live Location Platform, which tools let developers build a new world by location data in 2010. Their core competency is creating maps and developer-friendly location data, APIs and SDKs so that customers can focus on the design, creation and development of the application. The open source tools enable analytics companies to understand large geospatial data, drone companies to publish flyovers, real estate websites to visualize real estate, satellite companies to process cloud-free images and insurance companies to track assets.
Mapbox is proud to include its open source roots. They work openly and release as much code as possible. Because they believe it’s right for people, technology and business.
Learn more about Porsche and Mapbox in this WIRED story during #Slush18 conference in Helsinki.
