In light of the recent controversy over Apple's new Maps, The Atlantic has taken a closer look at how competitor Nokia crafted a mapping service of its own, revealing the company's use of FedEx data combined with other processes. While Google uses Street View cars and Apple utilizes data licensed from TomTom and OpenStreetMap, Nokia not only gets its information from commercial delivery vehicles, but also consumers using navigation apps. Like Google, Nokia also relies on drivers using cars equipped with about $200,000 of equipment to gather invaluable data that keeps the mapping database up-to-date.

But according to Nokia's VP of location, Cliff Fox, creating a map "the first time is relatively the smaller task compared to maintaining that map." Although the three companies differ in their data obtaining strategies, the constant updates and expansions to their mapping services will be how they compete to win customers. For more on Nokia's unique mapping strategy and how it stacks up against the other big players, take a look at the full article at the source link below.

Update: This article originally stated that Nokia collected data from UPS trucks as well as FedEx trucks for its mapping services. However, Nokia has reached out to us and let us know that it does not collect any data from UPS. In The Atlantic interview, Fox was referring to UPS as an example of "commercial vehicles" that could have this location data — not that Nokia actually collects it.