Alibaba’s Amap mapping app is undergoing a major AI-driven revamp, introducing features like Street Stars and Flying Street View 2.0 to boost local business visibility and user engagement, positioning itself as a strong challenger to Meituan in China’s local services sector.
- Street Stars boosts local business orders by over 150%
- Flying Street View 2.0 offers interactive 3D destination previews
- Amap’s user base nears 1 billion monthly active users
What happened
Alibaba has revamped its Amap mapping app to include advanced artificial intelligence features, with the goal of enhancing local business discovery and user experience. The new Street Stars feature ranks local venues using AI by analyzing vast amounts of user data, such as foot traffic and verified customer feedback, helping merchants gain prominence on Amap’s main page. This initiative has led to notable business growth for featured merchants, with some reporting sales increases of up to 60%.
In addition to enhanced recommendations, Amap recently launched Flying Street View 2.0, which allows users to preview destinations such as shopping malls and theater seats in immersive 3D environments. This upgrade leverages Alibaba’s proprietary ABot-Earth 0.7 technology, representing a cutting-edge urban world model that provides more spatial intelligence and interactive exploration capabilities directly within the app.
Why it matters
The AI-powered enhancements to Amap mark a strategic move by Alibaba to carve out a larger share of China's lucrative local services market, traditionally dominated by Meituan. By utilizing Alibaba’s massive user base—close to 1 billion monthly active users compared to Meituan’s 512 million—the app is rapidly expanding its influence among consumers and small merchants seeking to attract new customers via multiple digital channels.
Amap’s transformation into a platform that integrates AI-based local rankings and embodied intelligence highlights how big tech companies in China are turning navigation and mapping apps into competitive hubs for consumer AI applications. These advances not only improve user experience but also create new opportunities for merchants to increase orders and adapt to a multi-platform landscape that includes rivals like ByteDance’s Douyin.
What to watch next
The ongoing AI-driven upgrades to Amap will be crucial to watch, especially how the Flying Street View 2.0 and other immersive features affect user engagement and merchant sales in the coming months. The success of these innovations could prompt further integration of robotics and embodied AI systems within Alibaba’s ecosystem, potentially influencing the future of urban navigation and local commerce.
Additionally, monitoring the competitive dynamics between Alibaba, Meituan, and ByteDance in China’s local services sector will be important. These firms’ strategies in leveraging data, artificial intelligence, and expansive user bases will shape how small businesses and consumers navigate a rapidly evolving digital landscape where mapping apps play a central role.