Amap

Amap (Gaode Map, 高德地图) is one of China’s main navigation apps, created in 2002 and now part of the Alibaba group. Consumers use it to drive, walk, cycle or take public transport. Through the Amap Open Platform, companies can also add its maps, place search and routing to their own apps, websites and in-car systems.

What the Amap app does for its users

Amap is first a consumer product. Its core functions cover the whole trip:

• Route planning for driving, walking, public transportation and cycling, with alternative routes.
• Real-time traffic: congestion, accidents and road works shown on the map, so drivers can avoid jams.
• Voice navigation, with a choice of voice packs.
• Place search: restaurants, hotels, gas stations, parking lots and tourist sites, with ratings and reviews, and navigation in one tap.
• Lifestyle services inside the app, such as ride-hailing, carpooling and bike sharing.
• Offline maps, so navigation keeps working without a network, and maps for some destinations outside China.
• AR walking navigation through the phone camera, useful at complex intersections.

Who uses Amap

Drivers, commuters and travelers across mainland China use Amap daily, and many expats in Shanghai keep it next to Baidu Maps, as our guide to the best apps for Shanghai explains. For a brand, this matters for a simple reason: when a Chinese customer looks for your store, showroom or office, the search often starts in a map app, and your listing there must be right.

What a foreign company can do with the Amap Open Platform

The Open Platform is the business side of Amap. It gives developers:

• a JavaScript API to show an Amap map on a website or an H5 page;
• Android and iOS SDKs for maps, location and navigation in a native app;
• web service APIs for geocoding (address to coordinates and back), place search and route planning on your server;
• SDKs for in-car systems and enterprise solutions for logistics, fleets and smart parking.

Typical uses are a store locator on a brand website, a delivery tracker in an e-commerce app, routes to event venues, or fleet dispatch. Amap’s services run on the infrastructure of Alibaba Cloud, the group’s cloud platform.

To start, register on the Open Platform, create an application, request a developer key for each platform (web, Android, iOS), then follow the official documentation. Commercial use is subject to Amap’s license terms and call quotas, which should be checked before launch. If the map is part of a new app, our team handles the key, the SDK and the testing as part of iOS and Android app development.

How Amap differs from the other Chinese maps

China has no single map leader, and each service has its own strengths:

• Baidu Maps is tied to the Baidu search engine and its local results, and its open platform asks for a company verification.
• Tencent Map is the map behind WeChat location sharing and Mini Programs.
• Tianditu is the official map of the Chinese state, built for public data and GIS work rather than for consumers.

Amap’s distinctive point is the combination of a mass-market navigation app and an open platform inside the Alibaba ecosystem, alongside Alipay and Taobao.

How QPSoftware can help

A map is often the feature Chinese users expect first in a retail, travel or delivery app, and Google Maps does not work reliably in China. Our Shanghai team chooses the map provider with you, integrates Amap or its neighbors, and tests the result on Chinese devices. If you need to develop your mobile app for China with a map at its core, tell us about the project.

Frequently Asked Questions