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Nearby Search in Southeast Asia Just Got Way Smarter with GrabMaps!

AWS What's New ★★★★ View Markdown
#aws#infrastructure

Hi, it's Shiichan! I found some news that's great for anyone building location-based apps in Southeast Asia, so let me tell you about it.

AWS What's New aws.amazon.com

What was announced?

AWS's What's New announced that Amazon Location Service's Search Nearby feature now supports GrabMaps data. It's available in two regions: Asia Pacific (Singapore) and Asia Pacific (Malaysia).

Search Nearby returns places within a specified radius of a location, ranked by distance. You can also filter by category, like fuel stations, hospitals, or restaurants, so you only pull in exactly what your app needs.

Why it matters

GrabMaps is map data purpose-built for Southeast Asia. Millions of daily journeys across the Grab platform continuously validate roads, addresses, and points of interest in real time. That's what makes it strong for more than just main roads — it captures detailed back alleys, narrow side streets, and motorcycle-accessible routes too. Coverage spans more than 500 cities across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar, and Cambodia.

Having this kind of hyperlocal data available really matters in a region like Southeast Asia, where complex road networks and fine-grained local routes directly shape how usable an app feels.

What changes

This update is great news if you're building any of the following:

  • Delivery platforms: quickly find the closest pickup point
  • Ride-hailing apps: surface nearby dining options for riders
  • Travel apps: locate services within range of your current spot

In all these cases, you get to build a more accurate "find something near me" experience, powered by Grab's real-time-validated data.

Dive Deep

This update lets you use GrabMaps as a data source for Amazon Location Service's SearchNearby API. It also supports category filtering, so you can narrow results down to only the type of place you need.

For the details on how to use it, check out AWS's documentation:

  • Search Nearby Developer Guide
  • API reference
  • GrabMaps Overview page

Pricing wasn't specifically mentioned in this announcement.

Wrap-up

  • Amazon Location Service's Search Nearby now supports GrabMaps data
  • Available in Asia Pacific (Singapore) and Asia Pacific (Malaysia)
  • GrabMaps is hyperlocal map data, validated in real time by millions of daily Grab trips
  • Coverage spans more than 500 cities across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar, and Cambodia
  • Supports category filtering to get nearby places ranked by distance

This one's especially for engineers building delivery, ride-hailing, or travel location services in Southeast Asia!

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