Interview: Amazon Location makes it easier to access cost-effective, location services

Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced the launch of Amazon Location Service in December. Priced at a fraction of common alternatives, the service seeks to give users access to maps and location-based services from multiple providers on an economical, pay-as-you-go basis. We caught up Andre Dufour, General Manager, Amazon Location Service, AWS, on the business needs for the service and the gaps the company is trying to address.

Why did AWS decided to launch Amazon Location now? Was it a direct outcome of how GIS and geospatial data and technology has gained prominence since COVID outbreak and will continue to in a post-COVID world?

At Amazon, we start from the customer and work backwards. In the case of Amazon Location Service, we saw a need to make it easier and more cost-effective for customers to add maps, location awareness, and other location-based features to their web and mobile applications.

Location is vital part of many modern applications, enabling capabilities ranging from asset tracking to personalized marketing. Before launching Amazon Location, developers faced significant barriers to integrating location data into their application, including potential compromises to data security and privacy, cost-prohibitive pricing, and a challenging integration process that took time away from a customer’s core business. Amazon Location addresses all of these issues, making it easier for customers to access cost-effective, location-based services using high-quality data from trusted providers Esri and HERE Technologies. We also have built-in metrics for health monitoring, so customers can bring their applications to production faster and focus on delivering the best experience to their end users.

Amazon Location has some exciting implications for customers by lowering the cost to implement location-based services into all kinds of applications. Can you elaborate further on the cost side?

We have heard from customers that there are many applications where location information could improve the user experience, but many such applications do not have a positive return on investment with the prices and integration costs that prevail today. With Amazon Location, customers can avoid fixed licensing, along with the high infrastructure and integration costs required to get started with on-premises location-based services installations. By using Amazon Location, customers pay only for the resources they actually use. Amazon Location is priced at a fraction of the cost of other cloud-based alternatives,  in order to unlock the creativity of builders on AWS. This enables customers to use location information more pervasively and discover entirely new business applications that would otherwise have been cost-prohibitive to implement using other services.

What are some of the early use cases you are seeing from customers? And what are some of your future plans in terms targeting new markets and customers?

We’ve already seen significant interest from customers for everything from user engagement and geomarketing to asset tracking and delivery.

PostNL, an e-commerce and postal logistics provider in the Netherlands, is using Amazon Location, along with other AWS IoT, serverless, storage, and analytics services, to build a solution to track a quarter million delivery assets. By optimizing based on asset location, PostNL can improve the utilization of their delivery vehicles and realize significant savings, as well as open up new business opportunities.

MobileLog, a service that helps businesses track and trace deliveries and vehicles in real time, is another early customer using Amazon Location. By switching to Amazon Location Service, they are able to consolidate their infrastructure and retire redundant services, and estimate they’ll be able to cut development costs by 50%, and achieve an overall cost reduction of 30-50%.

These examples are just the start. We’ve seen many customers achieve similar benefits and look forward to seeing what else customers are able to build using Amazon Location in the future.

How do you see the technology landscape evolving over time?

We see location becoming more and more pervasive in customer applications. Whether it’s striking map-based visualizations, personalized customer experience based on location, or the tracking of assets for security or optimization purposes, location is no longer just a specialized discipline for cartographers and GIS experts, but rather a basic data type for all developers. We think it will be as normal for developers to talk about a location tag as it is for them to refer to a timestamp. Accordingly, we continue to evolve Amazon Location so that developers attuned to this trend – people who don’t have deep geospatial expertise – can easily introduce location into their applications as a natural extension of their AWS builder experience. Amazon Location has already removed a lot of the undifferentiated heavy lifting that came with integrating some location-based service providers, and we’ll continue to expand the service’s capabilities to meet the needs of our diverse customer base.

When it launched, the AWS service was said to be built on geospatial data from Esri and HERE. Have you added partners since then, and who are the others on your radar?

We’re incredibly excited to work with Esri and HERE Technologies because they are global, trusted providers of high-quality location data. At the moment, we’re focused on working closely with both companies to expand our collaboration. Nonetheless, 90 percent of our roadmap at AWS is driven by customer feedback, so we constantly re-examine how we can expand our capabilities to meet customer demand for additional geospatial data types or specialized regional data.

What are your plan to take on the might of Google in the location space, given that Google’s strength in Location space is pretty much its own, and derived from its Search+Maps abilities?

We don’t focus on what our competitors are doing. We decided to build Amazon Location after hearing from our customers that some of the common location-based services alternatives forced them to make tradeoffs when it came to data privacy and security, had pricing structures that were cost prohibitive, or were just difficult to integrate. Amazon Location solves for those pain points, giving customers an easy, secure, and more cost-effective way to add maps, location awareness, and other location-based features to their web and mobile applications.

Everything we do is grounded in our commitment to customer obsession. The majority of our roadmap is driven by customer requests, so you can expect that we’ll continue to listen to customer feedback and expand our capabilities and offerings based on their needs. Amazon Location is one of those examples where we saw an opportunity to create something that would solve common paint points for customers that wanted to take advantage of location-based services, and we will continue to add new features and innovate on behalf of our customers based on their evolving needs.

Data privacy has become a contentious issue, and gained more prominence since COVID. With various countries and even provinces coming down with some very stringent privacy regulation, how do see the landscape evolving?

Security is our top priority at AWS. Our core infrastructure is built to satisfy the security requirements for military, global banks, and other high-sensitivity organizations, and every customer gets to benefit from those innovations. For Amazon Location specifically, data privacy is incredibly important. Customer’s retain control of their organization’s data. We also anonymize all queries sent to data providers by removing customer metadata and account information. Sensitive tracking and geofencing location information, such as facility, asset, and personnel locations, never leaves their AWS account at all. This helps customers shield sensitive information from third parties, protect user privacy, and reduce an application’s security risks. Additionally, neither AWS nor its location partners have rights to sell customer data or use it for advertising.

Despite global slowdown, space industry attracts record investments in 2020

Despite the global slowdown, space sector continues to be on a roll. Investment in space industry set a new record in 2020, with the space infrastructure segment garnering 8.9 billion, according to a new report by Space Capital. The total 2020 investment of 25.6 billion in the space sector was the third highest in the decade (trailing only 2018 and 2016), in the face of widespread fears that COVID-19 would dampen the past decade’s momentum. 

“As the world entered its first waves of COVID-19 lockdowns in Q1-Q2, many industry commentators predicted a wave of bankruptcies and a general pullback by investors, which never materialized,” the report notes, adding that despite wide expectations that [space] Infrastructure would be hardest hit by the pandemic, 2020 turned out to be a record year for investment at this layer of the stack with $8.9B invested.

ALSO READ: What are we doing about space traffic management?

The report classifies the investment in the space industry into three segments – Infrastructure (including companies in launch business of satellite manufacturers such as SpaceX, Blue Origin, Relativity Space, Rocket Lab etc); Application (including space-dependent services like ride-hailing or navigation) and Distribution (including terrestrial-based technologies that connect to space-based networks). Given the growing global appetite for location-based insights, it wasn’t surprising that the Application segment garnered a whopping $15.9 billion while Distribution scored $800 million (the second highest since 2011).

With another $25.6 billion invested across 359 rounds in 2020, there has now been $177.7B of equity investment into 1,343 unique companies in the space economy over the past decade. VCs invested another $15.7 billion into 252 space companies in 2020, of which $9.4 billion went to US companies, representing 6% of the total venture dollars invested during the year.

Infrastructure

Geospatial intelligence was high in demand as the world shifted to remote operations, which further underscores that in times of uncertainty, business leaders need more information and insights, which is exactly the type of data that space companies provide. The report underlines that the satellite industry has seen the most deal activity with 48% of total round share. The most active sectors include Manufacturing and Earth Observation, which account for 73% of satellite industry rounds over the past decade. This innovation laid the foundation for distributed satellite networks and dynamic Geospatial capabilities.

Over the past decade, 423 Infrastructure companies have raised $30.9 billion in cumulative equity investment that has radically increased access to orbits, enabled distributed networks of small satellites, and laid the foundation for ubiquitous global connectivity. Infrastructure investments in Launch business totaled at $6.8 billion in 2020. The cumulative Launch investment over the past decade was $18.8 billion  with 74% invested in Heavy Launch, reflecting the capital intensity of the sector.

While US companies led global investment in space Infrastructure (accounting for 64% of the total capital since 2011), China continued its rapid Infrastructure development with large investments in Satellites and Launch, and now accounts for 8% of global investment over the past decade. “The country’s unique approach to Infrastructure development through the Belt and Road Initiative means that space will likely continue to play an increasingly important role in the country’s future,” the report notes.

Application

In the Application segment, capital continued to be heavily concentrated in the PNT (Positioning Navigation and Timing) sector — driven by investment in Location-Based Services (LBS) — accounting for 87% of the total 2020 investment. The LBS industry was in overdrive globally throughout the year in response to the pandemic.

Even otherwise, with location-based intelligence becoming an integral part of business intelligence and public services such as ride-hailing, on-demand delivery, and micro-mobility, the past 10 years have now seen $141.6 billion invested into 807 companies across 2,118 rounds in the Applications segment.

Not surprisingly, US companies continue to attract the largest share of Applications investment, accounting for 43% of the total since 2011, closely followed by China at 33% of the total with significant investments in Location Based Services, with Singapore (7%), Indonesia (4%), India (3%), UK (2%) bringing up the rear.

PNT accounts for 81% of all investment rounds in the Applications stack since 2011. Interestingly, Earth Observation represents a much larger percentage of rounds than capital (16% vs.1%), indicating a nascent sector with more early-stage activity. There are a number of notable early-stage companies actively working to unlock the full potential of Earth Observation Applications.

Distribution

Again, in the Distribution segment, since 2011, 63% of investment in Distribution has gone to PNT, followed by Communications with 33%, which is largely the result of location-based intelligence being added to end-user Applications. The report expects additional investment activity focused on Distribution within Earth Observation as more companies utilize this growing data set.

Here too, EO represents a larger percentage of rounds than capital (6% vs. 1%), once again indicating a nascent sector with more early-stage activity. This activity includes both hardware and software developments as entrepreneurs race to remove complexity from the Earth Observation value chain.

This segment has now seen $5.2 billion invested across 246 rounds over the last 10 years for development of hardware and software to connect hundreds of terrestrial industries to space-based Infrastructure.

American and Chinese companies attracted the majority of capital at the Distribution layer since 2011 (43% and 42%, respectively), which helped them to also dominate the LBS market. Other countries receiving investment include Israel (3%), South Korea (3%) , UK (2%), Belgium (1.5%), and Canada (1%).

The Big Tech

The report highlights Amazon’s and Microsoft’s accelerating space ambitions “one of the more overlooked stories of 2020”, and one which is expected to have a significant impact in 2021 and beyond. In September, Microsoft unveiled a preview of its ground stations as a business model that enables satellite operators to communicate to and control their satellites, process data, and scale operations with Microsoft Azure Cloud. This was followed by an announcement of a partnership with SpaceX in October, wherein the two companies plan to deliver satellite connectivity between field-deployed assets and Cloud resources across the world to both the public and private sector via SpaceX’s Starlink satellite network. 

This pitches Microsoft in direct competition with Amazon’s AWS Ground Station and its Project Kuiper. Coming shortly after its announcement to set up a new business unit dedicated to accelerating innovation in the global aerospace and satellite industry, in August Amazon announced its intention to invest $10 billion for launching a LEO constellation called Project Kupier to eliminate Internet dark spots.

Azure Space and AWS Space are removing complexity across the value chain, making a global network of space-based communication and data collection infrastructure accessible to the tech community to innovate upon, a repeat of ‘The GPS Playbook’.

“The increased involvement of these tech giants will serve as yet another catalyst for growth in this sector. In the same way that every company today is a technology company, the companies of tomorrow will all be space companies.”

India’s decision to de-regulate geospatial information is significant in so many ways

From a draconian Geospatial Information Regulation Bill in 2016, that sought to criminalize acquisition or distribution of any geospatial information of India without permission from proper government authorities, to complete deregulation of geospatial data last week, India has come a long way.

Under the new guidelines released on February 15, all Indian entities will be free to acquire, collect, generate, prepare, disseminate, store, share, publish, distribute, update, digitize and/or create geospatial data, including maps, of any territorial waters by using any geospatial technology. The announcement is remarkable in many ways since it opens up huge opportunities for the Indian geospatial industry. In the words of  Union Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, the reforms will unlock a value of INR 1,000 billion (USD 13.8 billion) by 2030, by creating tremendous opportunities for start-ups, private sector, public sector and research institutions. They will also generate employment and accelerate economic growth.

ALSO READ: Why India needs a geospatial strategy?

Boost to GDP

The benefits go beyond geospatial industry. It has been variously estimated that efficient and effective usage of geospatial information could add almost 2% growth to the overall GDP through direct contribution. Since geospatial information is fundamental to mission-mode projects like smart cities, highways, modernization of railways, inter-linking of waterways or the Digital India initiative, the easing of norms will greatly help in several sectors that were suffering because of non-availability of high quality maps. The availability of data and modern mapping technologies to Indian companies is also crucial for achieving India’s policy aim of AtmaNirbhar Bharat (self-dependent India) and its vision of becoming a five trillion-dollar economy.

There is a close correlation between geospatial readiness and other human development indicators. It has been observed that countries that are high in adoption of geospatial technologies stand to gain more than others in terms of contribution to GDP, standard of living for citizens and quality of infrastructure.

For instance, US, UK, Germany, Singapore and The Netherlands rank among the top 10 on the Countries Geospatial Readiness Index (CGRI)-2019, and are also the leaders on human development and other fronts. The CGRI ranks India at the 25th place. India’s ranking on these pillars and multiple sub-pillars which represent various subcomponents of the geospatial sector ecosystem provides ample insights on the need for an integrated approach from government and national geospatial agencies for a holistic development of the sector. While India’s inability to fully harness the development and commercial opportunities is due to a combination of factors, the less-than-optimum role played by the national geospatial agencies is one of the key reasons.

As with other countries, digitalization presents India with a rare opportunity to make swift economic progress all across. New-age technologies like IoT, Artificial intelligence, Cloud, Wireless & Broadband and Big Data are empowering the assimilation of spatial information into existing business processes. Analyzing data using Geographic Information system is becoming a critical core strategy for successful decision making in an increasingly competitive global economy.

Potential to be a global geospatial powerhouse

But again, this goes beyond India in many ways. India is a paradise for outsourcing of IT services and R&D due to lower costs, higher quality, and a huge talent pool with great communication skills. A liberalized geospatial environment in India could play a significant role in further innovation and development of low-cost services and solutions for the global industry. In the end, it’s a win-win for all.

As Dr Vardhan said, “What is readily available globally does not need to be regulated.”

India was late in picking up the ball. But it’s never too late to get the ball rolling.