The more competition the better, though article’s take might be somewhat rosy-eyed.
In the end-user apps domain, alternatives including Apple Maps lose to Google Maps miserably in all regions I have been to in the past 2–3 years with the exception of mainland China. If I need to get somewhere and accurately estimate arrival time, I am not happy feeding Google my movement data but I will since it’ll be the most reliable option available no matter where I am.
As far as developer-oriented solutions, I know that Algolia Places shut down earlier this year citing insufficient quality of OSM data[0]. If Mapbox is indeed getting there and we’re about to have some proper competition in this space, I’m all for it.
In the end-user apps domain, alternatives including Apple Maps lose to Google Maps miserably in all regions I have been to in the past 2–3 years with the exception of mainland China. If I need to get somewhere and accurately estimate arrival time, I am not happy feeding Google my movement data but I will since it’ll be the most reliable option available no matter where I am.
As far as developer-oriented solutions, I know that Algolia Places shut down earlier this year citing insufficient quality of OSM data[0]. If Mapbox is indeed getting there and we’re about to have some proper competition in this space, I’m all for it.
[0] https://www.algolia.com/blog/sunseting-our-places-feature/