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Hivemapper is a San Francisco based startup creating a decentralized, ever-updating map built by people using dashcams. The Hivemapper Network is a global, crypto-mapping network that collects fresher, high resolution, and relevant map data in a more cost-effective way. Its a decentralized alternative to Google Maps that rewards users with tokens called HONEY for passively collecting imagery and location data with dashcams in a model inspired by Helium. Map contributors capture 4K street-level imagery with dashcams, carry out quality assurance, and annotate imagery. Map consumers use the map using the Map Image API. Hivemapper’s vision is to democratize and decentralize the production of maps by putting the tools to create them into the hands of everyday people and also provide an incentive by paying them for their part of the process.

Hivemapper recently raised $18 million in a funding round led by Multicoin Capital.

Dashcam
Hivemapper created the world’s first crypto-integrated dashcam. The Hivemapper Dashcam is an open source dashcam that natively integrates with the Hivemapper Mapping Network through a seamless mobile app. The company’s first dashcam, which is being made in Pittsburgh, is expected to begin shipping in July, 2022.

Honey Token
HONEY is the cryptocurrency of the Hivemapper blockchain built on top of Solana, which rewards contributions to the mapping network. Mined HONEY tokens will be available in a Hivemapper Web3 wallet. From there, the user is free to transfer their tokens on the Solana blockchain wherever they please; inclusive of other wallets and exchanges. There is a fixed supply of 10 billion HONEY tokens minted on a schedule described in the Token Economics section. Contributors will be rewarded with HONEY tokens which confer ownership in the global map.

Map API
APIs built on top of the global map enable developers to cost effectively integrate maps and geolocation services into their applications. Today, Hivemapper Inc. offers individuals and organizations the powerful Map Image API. The set of APIs that Hivemapper Inc. and other organizations can build and commercialize on top of the global map includes Driving Directions, Geo Search, Traffic, and more.

Hivemapper Network
The Hivemapper Network is a blockchain-based mapping network that incentivizes map coverage, freshness, and quality with crypto incentives and collective ownership. The network is composed of map contributors and map consumers. Map contributors are drivers and editors. Drivers capture 4K, street-level imagery using dashcams. Map editors then process that data, carry out quality assurance, and annotate contributor imagery. In exchange, both drivers and editors are rewarded with the network’s native token, HONEY, and the result is a state-of-the-art map that is constantly evolving, and that is collectively owned by its contributors. Map consumers leverage the map via a set of APIs that can call images, directions, geocoder searches, and more. Using Hivemapper’s Freshview feature, consumers can zoom in on an intersection and see a timelapse montage of that location. Businesses rely on up to date map data, including real-time imagery, to make informed decisions about logistics, deliveries and directions.

Funding and People
In April 2022, Hivemapper announced an $18 million Series A round led by Multicoin Capital with participation from Craft Ventures, Solana Capital, Shine Capital, and Spencer Rascoff’s 75 and Sunny Ventures. Joining previous investors Spark Capital, Founder Collective, and Homebrew, they bring the company’s total financing to $23 million to date.

Additionally entrepreneurs from the crypto and mapping industries also invested, including Anatoly Yakovenko and Raj Gokal, the founders of the Solana blockchain; Jaron Waldman, a former Apple Maps executive; and Amir Haleem, CEO of Helium, another crypto network.