Yandex Goes Into Mapping

Internet, April 18, 2011. Yandex now makes its own electronic maps. The first digital map created by the company’s own mapmakers - a detailedmap of Moscow and Moscow region- was rolled out today at maps.yandex.ru.

The new maps offers the most complete and up-to-date content available. Yandex’s current map of Moscow and the Moscow region shows two times as many buildings as its previous editions. Users can see the apartment buildings and shopping malls that have been built only recently. The new map of Moscow and the Moscow region includes 204 detailed maps of towns and small communities. The new map is available online at maps.yandex.ru or on mobile as the Yandex.Maps application.

With its own, proprietary maps, Yandex is able to make changes or improvements as frequently as necessary, thus keeping the map constantly updated. The users can also contribute to keeping the map of Moscow and the Moscow region as accurate as possible by sending their suggestions via the feedback form. The more user feedback the Yandex mapmakers have, the more accurate the map will be.

“Things change fast online. Unfortunately, this has not been the case with maps: map production is traditionally a lengthy process. Since we were buying our maps ready-made, there was nothing we could do about how fast we could update them. There was only one way out – start making our own maps, which is exactly what we did,” says Maria Orlova, Project Manager.

Yandex acquired the mapping license in 2010 together with the purchase of the mapping data providerGIS Technologies. This acquisition gave Yandex a team of professional cartographers and allows the company to produce its own maps. From now on, Yandex plans to make and publish hundreds of maps.

To read about how electronic maps are made, visit this page:company.yandex.com/technologies/maps.xml.

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Yandex is the leading internet company in Russia operating the most popular search engine and most visited website. In 2010, Yandex generated 64% of all search traffic in Russia, while its homepage attracted a monthly average of 21.5 million users. Yandex also operates in Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus.