Amazon Web Services Inc. today introduced the preview version of Amazon Location Service, a new offering in its cloud platform that enables companies to add location-based capabilities such as package tracking to their applications.

The offering made its debut during the company’s virtual re:Invent event. It’s poised to create more competition for Google LLC in the location data market. The search giant’s cloud business, one of AWS’ main rivals, provides a developer version of its ubiquitous Google Maps service called Google Maps Platform that companies can integrate into their applications.

Amazon Location Service provides access to maps from Esri Global Inc. and Netherlands-based Here Technologies, two of the industry’s biggest location data providers. Developers can access charts via application programming interfaces or AWS’ command line tool. They also have access to a number of value-added capabilities that AWS has implemented atop the core map dataset to simplify application development.

Amazon Location Service has tools that can be used to build software for tracking objects such as packages. A built-in geofencing capability, meanwhile, provides the ability to detect if a tracked object enters a given location, say a warehouse. A third use case AWS hopes to target with the service is enabling developers to embed maps into application interfaces: A retailer, for example, could overlay store locations on an Amazon Location Service map.  

“Priced at a fraction of common alternatives, Amazon Location Service gives you access to maps and location-based services from multiple providers on an economical, pay-as-you-go basis,” AWS Chief Evangelist Jeff Barr wrote in the blog post announcing the service today.

Google Maps Platform is presumably among the “common alternatives” that AWS is looking to challenge with the offering. Microsoft Corp.’s Azure platform provides its own location service, Azure Maps, with which the Amazon.com Inc. subsidiary can now more directly compete too. 

Amazon Location Service should have particular appeal for companies that already run workloads on AWS. For enterprises, sourcing location data through the same cloud platform that hosts their location applications could be easier from a billing standpoint than inking a separate contract with a third-party mapping provider. Administrators, meanwhile, can manage Amazon Location Service from the same AWS Management Console through which they orchestrate the rest of their cloud deployments. 

“You can use Amazon Location Service to build applications that know where they are and respond accordingly. You can display maps, validate addresses, perform geocoding (turn an address into a location), track the movement of packages and devices, and much more,” Barr detailed.

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