Sogou Map Combat: The main cloud navigation concept advocates UGC mode

The domestic mobile Internet development momentum is strong, the study of enterprises specific combat cases, will be able to give practitioners and want to dabble in this field of reference to some people.

Tencent technology to visit many of the pioneers in the forefront of the pioneering, launched the "Mobile Internet Business Practice Guide" series of articles, as far as possible to talk about theory, more talk about practice. This article is the 15th: Pay attention to mobile map.

Apple and Google (Micro-blog) Map War is getting hotter, and again to attract people's attention to the map field. As one of the most major traffic portals in the mobile internet, maps are playing an increasingly important role, not only to attract a large number of users, but also to obtain a large number of user information, and up to 25% mobile phone ads and maps and related applications closely related.

The map as a giant into the mobile Internet military battleground, in addition to Apple, Google outside, including Microsoft, Yahoo also involved in the market. There are even rumours that Amazon will launch a new mobile device during the Christmas shopping season, and that it may need to match the map service.

Domestic Tencent, Baidu, Sogou, and other manufacturers have significantly increased investment this year, and want to in this area happy enclosure. Among them, Baidu Map this year is focused on the development of life search services. Sogou map to take the practice is deep deep cloud navigation, the use of UGC content to provide the way.

Sogou Map Division general manager Kong Xianglai Tencent Science and Technology, Sogou map through the server to all the whole network into the calculation of cloud navigation, cloud navigation in theory can find more reasonable way than the client technology. The advantage of using UGC mode is that once the navigation error, other users upload information can be made up for users, this will enhance the usefulness of Sogou map, more than the cost of buying data to be cost-effective.

It is reported that the current Sogou map has more than 100 people's team, belong to Sogou's strategic level project, and very early has a map licence qualification, mobile Internet development will give Sogou map to bring more opportunities.

Kong Xianglai pointed out that the map manufacturers to use the data basically from the gold and four-dimensional, based on roughly the same basic road network data, the reason for the search results are different, but also in the background of the algorithm, which also test their ability to model. Sogou map will be on the basis of cloud navigation, pushing many maps of the application, and constantly get users.

Advocate UGC content to provide limited open API

From the easy view of the domestic mobile phone map client data (Tencent Science and Technology matching map)

It is understood that Sogou map is the predecessor of the electronic Map Service platform GO2MAP,05 Sohu acquisition after the establishment of Sogou map. Sogou Map Current Business department general manager Xiangxi to Go2map founder team members, in the Map field has more than 10 years of exploration.

Kong Xianglai to Tencent Technology, PC-side map has been recognized as a part of the search engine, not only the product homogeneity of serious, and the pattern has been set. Mobile phone side is a broad prospect, Sogou map, especially the mobile phone map is the strategy of the search dog products, sogou this year has increased the intensity of this field investment.

Kong Xianglai revealed that through the analysis of user needs Sogou map found that the demand for navigation in the mobile phone user demand for the ratio, as users use the habit of quietly changing, the proportion of the driver's more and more high, so, the navigation is Sogou mobile phone map The most important point of focus. This is very different from Baidu, Baidu Map design an important challenge is to allow users to change the image of the application of the map, from the pure query location and route into making life consumption decisions, query life information changes.

Unlike other vendors, Sogou presents the concept of cloud navigation. Traditional independent navigation is to put all the data on the client, all the search requests, the calculation in the local, the biggest disadvantage of this model is the data update is limited. Sogou solution is through the whole country into the calculation, the use of cloud navigation to give the best path.

Xiangxi, through the internal comparison test, it is found that cloud navigation is better than the client navigation to calculate the path rationality. Of course, the cloud navigation flaw lies in once the network coverage is insufficient or the broadband is insufficient, the user can appear the inconvenience in the use process. However, as the network environment gradually improved, this shortcoming will gradually eliminate. According to the plan, the future cloud navigation can also provide traffic flow calculation, other users to provide whether congestion and other information.

Sogou Map proposes another idea is the UGC concept. The UGC model is used to proofread the accuracy of navigation information by providing information to users. Kong Xianglai that the UGC model can solve the long tail problem of data update, and it is worth exploring.

Sogou Map Design Concept (Tencent science and technology with map)

In the Open API idea, Sogou map ideas and Baidu is not the same. Baidu Map has been adhering to the open API, claiming that there are more than 40,000 applications using the Baidu Map API and SDK. Sogou Map is a limited open API.

Xiangxi, Sogou maps open API dates back to 7, 8 years ago, the API was opened in the Go2map era, but then the API was paused. "Not only go2map, but many other companies are not." Google's Open API for a long time, the real use of Google API valuable application is not much, most of the mere formality. ”

Kong Xianglai that the overall level of developers will be uneven lead to the open API is very consuming technical resources, Sogou map Open API principle is not to pursue the size of the developer community, but more value the quality of the application. For truly valuable boutique applications, Sogou map will be put into depth technical support. Sogou map and Litters group, the century good margin in the open API has deep cooperation, which, litters group has for Sogou map mobile phone class group buying business important resources.

Can Apple's push map service be accepted for observation

In fact, currently in the mobile phone has Google, Baidu, and so on mobile phone map applications, with the release of iOS 6, Apple Maps will be Shing, as the mobile phone map market belated, Sogou map of the future road is undoubtedly fraught with hardship.

In this regard, Kong Xianglai that the current mobile phone map manufacturers data mainly from the gold and four-dimensional, including Apple, Google data from the gold, Baidu, Sogou data from the four-dimensional, we use the same map, search paths and search engines are the same, but the search results are different, this is mainly to fight each other

"Our ultimate goal is actually to figure out a really good way to get users to be accessible, sometimes not so simple as to say that the shortest time, or the shortest distance of the concept, to take into account a lot of factors, including the Chinese users of the need to understand the diversity of the needs to be in place." Whether you can consider more factors in your model is a test of your overall modeling ability. ”

In addition, the map data maintenance system is more efficient than others, faster, such as others one months can only publish a data update, they can publish data once a week, this is more than others cattle. These are the emphasis on localization. Sogou map also in the UGC aspect will try hard.

In addition to technology, how to attract more users to try to use is also Sogou map attention. Xiangxi to understand that this is not only by the background, cloud technology reserves, but also include front-end design capabilities, there is no ability to design an attractive UI, the interaction is not reasonable enough, is not to allow users to use the brain, quickly familiar with the product, and use up handy. This is a very important point of inspection.

Kong Xianglai pointed out that the map application development will be diverse, a map application can not cover all the places, and as the original brand value of things with the connection is not close, the original brand values are not so big. For example Baidu do search this is its brand value-added maximization, but Baidu if do mall, will not be able to take advantage of brand value.

In fact, however, Sogou remains a big concern for Apple to launch its map in China at the end of this year. From the information that has been obtained from the present, the Apple map China Regional map is a relatively simple two-dimensional diagram, there is no 3D gorgeous effect. More importantly, the map service is essentially an Internet domain problem, not only need to have deep accumulation in the Internet service area, but also need to be able to connect the atmosphere, and the latter for foreign companies especially a challenge.

Kong Xianglai that Apple has introduced a series of optimization measures for Chinese users in IOS6, indicating that Apple's incumbent CEO Kukebichobs more attention to the Chinese market. "If you really say whether can be accepted by the majority of users, it will be a few months after the official release of the Apple map to see how the effect." ”