Latlong.ai Claims 4x Accuracy Boost for Geocoding in India
Location intelligence firm Latlong.ai announced it has achieved a 4x improvement in geocoding accuracy for India. The company credits the gains to its use of spatial intelligence, marking a notable advancement for location-based services in a complex and rapidly growing market.
India's complex and often unstructured addresses, which frequently rely on landmarks rather than standardized street names and numbers, present a significant hurdle for traditional geocoding services. This ambiguity can lead to inaccuracies, with one analysis showing the average distance between a written point-of-interest and the actual location being around 400 meters. Such discrepancies create substantial challenges for logistics, delivery services, and emergency response. Latlong.ai's approach involves a "Depth of Area" concept, which understands addresses hierarchically from country down to neighborhood. This is combined with curated area data (polygons) for locations like villages, allowing their system to quickly eliminate incorrect possibilities. The company also utilizes APIs from AI4Bharat to handle the multiple spelling and script variations of Indian place names, such as mapping "Jainagar," "Jayanagara," and "Jayanagar" to the same Devanagari script. The accuracy of Latlong.ai's geocoding API was reviewed and verified by the National Centre for Geodesy at IIT Kanpur. A benchmarking study showed their API to have 2x better average accuracy than Google Maps API, 35x better than Microsoft Bing API, and nearly 200x better than TomTom API. This improved precision is crucial for businesses like TVS Motors and Fino Payments Bank, who use the technology for dealer lookups and improving network penetration. The Indian location-based services market is poised for significant expansion, with one report estimating it will grow from USD 1.89 billion in 2025 to USD 4.61 billion by 2030. This growth is fueled by increasing smartphone penetration, which is expected to reach 96% in India by 2040, and the rise of e-commerce. Accurate location intelligence is fundamental to capitalizing on this growth, impacting everything from targeted marketing to supply chain efficiency. Beyond its geocoding API, Latlong.ai has developed a full-stack platform that includes "Anuga," a tool for field operations and surveys, and "Aaloka," an AI-powered analytics engine for geospatial intelligence. The company's CEO, Narayana Bhatta, has emphasized the goal of providing a sovereign and more affordable alternative to global mapping APIs, addressing the unsustainable costs that can hinder Indian startups in sectors like mobility.
