China was building roads faster than anyone could map them, and AutoNavi set out to keep up. The Beijing company built a digital map of the country and sold it to carmakers for in-dash navigation, to makers of portable navigation devices and to internet companies. It had even made 3-D maps of key areas in 19 major cities. In July 2010 AutoNavi listed on Nasdaq under the ticker AMAP.

Survey Teams and Licenses

Jun Hou, Congwu Cheng and Jun Xiao started AutoNavi in 2002, with a focus on map data for in-dash car navigation. Mapping in China required government licenses, which kept many foreign rivals out. AutoNavi kept updating its database as cities grew. It licensed the data to international and Chinese carmakers. It also offered location services for websites and phones.

Alibaba Takes the Wheel

AutoNavi priced its American Depositary Shares at $12.50 in July 2010 and raised about $107.8 million. Alibaba bought about 28 percent of the company in 2013. In April 2014 it agreed to buy the rest for $21 an ADS, valuing AutoNavi at about $1.5 billion. Its app, Amap, became one of China's main navigation apps. Amap claimed 150 million average daily users in March 2023.

Cover: The Hollow Road, Cornelis Huysmans. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a winding road through the land (navigation).