Vietnam launches its own online mapping service

ABO/NDO - A digital mapping service developed by Vietnamese engineers, known as Vmap, has been launched, promising great details in both cities and remote regions.

The launching ceremony of the Vietnamese mapping service Vmap (Photo: VGP)

The service, available at https://vmap.vn, was unveiled at a ceremony on October 1 in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam.

It is the result of a joint effort of Vietnam Post, the Ho Chi Minh Youth Union and the Vietnam National University in Hanoi, as part of the national digital knowledge system.

Map data was collected for more than three months by 120,000 postal workers and youth union members who visited every neighbourhood and hamlet to gather information.

They used a mobile app to take photos and collect the coordinates, detailed addresses and other information of points of interests, such as hospitals, schools, restaurants, hotels, banks and markets.

The service currently has data on 23.4 million addresses and offers basic features such as location search and directions.

In addition, Vmap can display different map layers for different uses and show addresses as detailed as house numbers, whether it is in a city, or a rural or mountainous area.

The map data is expected to be further updated in the future with the help of postal carriers across the country.

Chairman of the Vietnam E-commerce Association Le Thanh Hung said e-commerce enterprises need digital mapping services but most services that they are using are provided by foreign companies and lack local information.

He expects that Vmap will provide rich data and features to benefit enterprises, especially those operating in e-commerce and logistics

(Source: NDO)