{"id":201824,"date":"2023-11-17T11:08:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-17T03:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grab.com\/sg\/?post_type=editorial&p=201824"},"modified":"2026-01-07T11:54:35","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T03:54:35","slug":"grab-indoor-maps-help-navigate-malls","status":"publish","type":"editorial","link":"https:\/\/www.grab.com\/sg\/inside-grab\/stories\/grab-indoor-maps-help-navigate-malls\/","title":{"rendered":"Malls are a maze, so we started mapping indoors to help driver-partners find their way"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Maybe it\u2019s the convenience of having everything in one place; maybe it\u2019s the air conditioning providing relief from the tropical weather.\u00a0<\/p>

Whatever the reason, malls are central to Southeast Asia\u2019s urban life. The region hosts some of the largest malls in the world<\/a>. The Central World Mall in Bangkok, Thailand, for instance, spans seven floors and 5.9 million square feet \u2013 that\u2019s about 100 football fields or more than 400 Olympic-size pools.<\/p>

Fun for shoppers, but not so much for our driver-partners who are in a rush to pick up deliveries. They often have to navigate these large shopping malls and retail complexes to get to the outlets of our food and beverage (F&B) merchant-partners.<\/p>

To help driver-partners find their way, we developed Indoor Maps.<\/p>

Mapmaking\u2019s next frontier: the great indoors<\/h5>

We got feedback from driver-partners who face challenges locating F&B outlets in malls they\u2019re unfamiliar with. It can be frustrating getting lost trying to find a restaurant inside a large, multi-level building. It\u2019s time-consuming, too, which means they could end up making fewer deliveries.\u00a0<\/p>

(Read more: A round-up of productivity tools for drivers<\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>

To help them get to pick-up points faster and improve their overall efficiency\u2014which translates to more jobs completed and potentially higher take-home pay\u2014we brought mapmaking indoors and started mapping Southeast Asia\u2019s malls.\u00a0<\/p>

How we built Indoor Maps<\/h5>

We worked with over 40 malls in six countries across Southeast Asia to create an indoor directory within the Grab app. The malls gave us blueprints of their buildings, and we used our proprietary tools to digitise these blueprints and connect them with our existing services.\u00a0<\/p>

Some popular malls we currently cover are KLCC and Pavillion in Malaysia, Jurong Point in Singapore, Central Mall Ladprao in Thailand, and UP Town Center in the Philippines.<\/p>

How it works<\/h5>

Driver-partners can input their current location and destination into their app and get a turn-by-turn route mapped out for them. Whereas road maps typically tell users to turn after a certain distance, Indoor Maps instruct driver-partners to turn at specific stores.\u00a0<\/p>

The walking guide lets them scroll through the directions, which changes the app\u2019s view to show where they need to go next. A cross-level feature allows users to view and navigate a building\u2019s different levels, helping them figure out which escalator or elevator to take.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Users can scroll through directions and navigate a building's different levels.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The result? Faster walking times, faster deliveries<\/h5>

Indoor Maps enable driver-partners to cut their walking times short and reduce the likelihood of getting lost in a mall. So far, drivers who used Indoor Maps spent up to 20.4 per cent less time looking for a restaurant compared to those who didn\u2019t.\u00a0<\/p>

(Read more: How we cut down the time delivery-partners wait at food outlets<\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>

Next steps<\/h5>

Mapmaking is continuous work. Stores can shutter, renovate, or move locations. To keep Indoor Maps relevant, we receive constant updates from driver-partners who give us feedback on store closures or issues with the suggested routes they\u2019re getting.<\/p>

This year, we hope to expand our coverage to more malls and retail complexes across the region. Next on our plate is rolling out Indoor Maps for wet markets in Malaysia, something we\u2019re already working on.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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