Amsterdam-based Magic Lane (previously Route66), a SaaS startup, announced on Tuesday that it has launched a Maps, Location & Navigation services platform, including software development kits (SDKs), marking its entry into the European market. With this move, the company aims to compete with Mapbox, TomTom and Google Maps.
The Dutch company is hosting a launch event from November 15 to 17, 2022, during the Tomorrow Mobility and Smart City Expo fair in Barcelona, Spain.
How was Magic Lane born?
Magic Lane was founded by the founders of the former Route 66, bringing the first route planner to the Mac and PC in the 1990s.
A few years ago, the founders, with over 30 years of experience in Maps, Location & Navigation services, decided to start making the software from scratch.
Initially, the project was carried out under the name General Magic, with the navigation app Magic Earth as a testing ground for Android and iOS. The app was well received.
“From General Magic to Magic Lane, because we made a new start. The name is also a compliment to the driving force behind the company, namely founder and CTO Johan Lanen. We often call him the walking encyclopedia in our domain. Thus, Magic Lane is an experienced newcomer in the European market who wants to shake up the established order. A celebration that we feel proud of,” says Raymond Alves, CEO of Magic Lane.
Magic Lane: What you need to know
Founded in 2022, Magic Lane is a software platform that offers Maps, Location & Navigation services. Currently, Magic Lane focuses on companies within the bicycle and micro-mobility market in Europe.
“An optimal route changes when the cyclist’s weight is combined with, for example, information about the landscape and the amount of energy available in the bicycle battery. In addition, Magic Lane’s code and architecture are so clean, simple, and compact that the software platform requires a little processor, energy, and storage capacity. This makes it easy to embed in all sorts of devices and means of transport. The complete solution even works on a low-cost platform, such as the RaspberryPi zero,” says Alves.
Magic Lane combines a large amount of qualitative maps and data sources with smart algorithms, allowing micro-mobility companies to quickly and efficiently build personalised services for their customers.
The platform does it by leveraging Open Street Maps and some 2000 other open-source map resources and live data resources.
The company also offers various software development kits (SDKs), allowing developers to use their front-end and map styles per operating system – iOS, Android, Javascript, QT, Linux, Flutter, and C++.
The Dutch company claims its platform can be easily integrated with the growing stream of vehicle and driver data.
The platform complies with European GDPR legislation and the platform’s data centers are located in Europe. Magic Lane also says it does not store or transfer generated data.
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