Grab built KartaCam to map the alleys its drivers use in Jakarta

Grab's ride-hailing and delivery services depended on accurate maps. In Jakarta, a rider needed a driver to reach a customer on time and a driver needed a reliable pickup point, making the streets and alleys they used every day the real operating surface.

Grab chose to build a mapping capability in-house. In October 2024, a reporter tried KartaCam, a camera mounted in a special backpack, while Grab drivers mapped the local roads. The company paid drivers extra for the mapping work, turning their route knowledge into a data-collection process.

The result was a map built around the service's last-mile needs: streets and alleys were recorded with the precision required for pickups and drop-offs, while drivers earned extra money and contributed to the community. Grab gained an in-house mapping layer for its Southeast Asian operations.

A proprietary KartaCam backpack mapped Jakarta streets and alleys; paid drivers supplied local knowledge for more accurate pickups and drop-offs.

Pickup and drop-off reliability depends on local road and alley accuracy.

Drivers already traveled the hard-to-map routes every day.

Extra pay gave drivers a reason to collect data, aligning incentives with the map's needs.

In-house mapping let Grab tailor its data to ride-hailing and delivery workflows.

When a platform depends on local geography that generic maps may miss, turn frontline workers into paid sensors and build the missing data layer around the service's real routes.

The report presents KartaCam as part of Grab's broader attempt to build its own mapping layer in Southeast Asia. Its practical payoff was a feedback loop: drivers helped improve the map, the map helped service the routes, and drivers were paid for the extra work.