KARACHI: Pakistan’s leading location data company, TPL Maps, on Friday launched ‘Beta’, a consumer-centric navigational mobile application, with a vision to curb mobility issues in the country.

The Beta launch ceremony was held at a local hotel.

Chief Executive Officer TPL Maps Sarwar Ali Khan said the ‘native’ mobile application has unique navigational features which cater to a number of things, looking at the mobility landscape of Pakistan.

“A most important feature of this indigenously developed App is the digitisation of public transportation routes,” Sarwar said.

In Pakistan, more than 85 percent of transportation is owned and operated by private enterprises, and they are not as digitised.

However, this is for the first time that TPL Maps has digitised routes of transportation (both public and private) along with their exact timings.

A consumer having an Android mobile phone can also download the app and avail the services available.

We are operating in Pakistan for the last three years; in the first two years our focus was to target Business to Business (B2B) and corporate companies with relation to locational and navigational services. However, after the Covid-19 pandemic, we have noticed a change in consumers’ behaviour as they are more inclined towards online orders for their day to day stuff.

For this, an accurate address is needed for the delivery of products, and this can only be possible if we have such a digital platform that can provide accurate navigation services.

Our aim is to scale up this application. We are looking at catering to specific problems of Pakistanis.

From a mobility perspective, nothing has changed over time in Pakistan. We are looking to address those problems relating to digitising public transportation routes. “The country offers resources; we have all the technical expertise, what is needed is opportunities to the potential youth,” he said.

We need to promote our own products. Countries in the world are promoting their own national brands and exporting their expertise, and that is something we need to look at, he said.

To a question, he said that the government should ensure ease of doing business. Tech-based startups mostly rely on online transactions, for them it’s a critical avenue and the government should support the startup ecosystem.

TPL Maps has seen good attraction from both local and international brands such as Dominos Pakistan coming up and utilizing its platform.

Zulqarnain, the Product Manager at TPL Maps said: Beta Launch of navigational mobile application is a gift for Pakistanis on the occasion of Independence Day. The data has been collected for the last 20 years. More consumer-centric features will be added in the next three to four months.

Earlier, a panel discussion was also held. TPL Maps engineers/ app developers shared their experiences.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023