BEIJING, July 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- AMAP, Alibaba's location-based services platform, has launched an upgraded version of its World Map service, expanding global point-of-interest (POI) coverage to more than 300 million records and adding multi-modal navigation tailored for international enterprise customers.
The upgrade is designed for developers and enterprises in logistics, on-demand delivery, local services, and online travel — sectors where navigation accuracy and data quality directly affect operational performance.
The new version adds dedicated routing for walking, cycling and motorcycles alongside driving, reflecting the reality that dominant travel modes differ significantly by region. Motorcycle navigation incorporates local lane designations and access restrictions, providing purpose-built routing for ride-hailing, last-mile delivery, and mobility providers. For instant-delivery and two-wheel mobility businesses, these routing modes reduce detours and restricted-road violations, improving dispatch efficiency and on-time performance.
AMAP is extending to international markets a set of navigation capabilities already proven in China, including junction views, lane-level guidance, voice prompts and turn-by-turn instructions grounded in real-time road attributes. These features can be integrated directly into enterprise applications and operating systems.
Two of the most common pain points for enterprises operating overseas, specifically incomplete address search results and inaccurate estimated arrival times, have been addressed in this release. Key road-network attributes including speed limits, one-way streets and turning restrictions have been added to the underlying data. ETA models have been continuously refined against real-time traffic conditions, reversible lanes, and seasonal travel patterns. For logistics planning and fleet management, more accurate time-space calculations translate directly to better resource allocation.
AMAP's global database now covers more than 300 million continuously updated POIs and over 500 million address records worldwide, with support for Chinese, English and local-language adaptation. The expanded coverage helps users find destinations, resolve addresses, and complete journeys with greater accuracy across international markets.
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AMAP Platform Upgrades World Map Service with Multi-Modal Navigation and 300M+ POI
Revolutionizing billing infrastructure for automated VAT refund processing and tax reclaims, with over 200,000 bills already scanned and recorded on Hedera within two weeks of go-live.
SCHWYZ, Switzerland and HYDERABAD, India, July 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Hashgraph Group (THG), the Swiss-based leading Web3 and AI technology engineering company, and String Metaverse, India's first publicly listed Web3 infrastructure company, announced the launch of "BillsOnChain" – a groundbreaking Web3 platform that transforms everyday spending into tokenized digital assets by bridging the gap between physical receipts and the power of blockchain on July 7. Developed in strategic partnership between String Metaverse and The Hashgraph Group, the platform has already onboarded over 31,000 users with integrated wallets on Hedera and has scanned more than 830,000 bills on-chain and more than 430,000 NFTs minted using Hedera's distributed ledger technology (DLT) network.
BillsOnChain transforms everyday spending into the creation of real digital assets by securely uploading receipts, earning instant rewards, and building a transparent, verifiable transaction history, turning routine purchases into valuable on-chain activity and digital assets. This next-generation platform is set to redefine how bills are stored, transferred, financed, and tracked, bringing unprecedented transparency, efficiency, and liquidity into the financial ecosystem.
Transforming the Future of Billing Infrastructure
The BillsOnChain platform introduces a decentralized, tamper-proof framework, that digitizes and tokenizes billing across industries. By leveraging Hedera's enterprise-grade distributed ledger technology, the platform enables:
- Immutable storage of invoices and bills on-chain
- Real-time tracking and auditability
- Reduced fraud and enhanced compliance
- Seamless transferability of financial obligations across parties
- Monetization opportunities through bill financing and tokenization
The platform is designed to serve a wide range of stakeholders, including governments, financial institutions, enterprises, and SMEs, unlocking new efficiencies in both public and private sector financial operations.
Strategic Collaboration
The development of the BillsOnChain platform has been designed and developed in strategic collaboration between String Metaverse and THG, following the signing ceremony earlier this year on January 20th, 2026 at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, reinforcing a shared commitment to advancing the digitisation and intelligent processing of invoices, receipts, and bills, leveraging distributed ledger technology as immutable audit and data integrity layer for privacy and artificial intelligence and machine learning models for data validation, duplication detection, and spend analytics.
Stefan Deiss, Co-Founder and CEO of The Hashgraph Group stated, "Our vision is to enable automated VAT refund processing, tax reclaim automation, and real-time data analytics of receipts for merchants, financial institutions, and governmental authorities. BillsOnChain is a strong example of how organizations can utilize Hedera for invoice tokenization and we look forward to working with String to improve global billing infrastructure invoice financing."
According to Business Research Insights, the blockchain B2B payments and invoice market is experiencing rapid growth, projected to expand from $22.2 billion in 2025 to nearly $1,856 billion by 2034, registering a CAGR of 63.5%. Driven by the need for secure, real-time, and cost-effective solutions, this expansion is fuelled by blockchain-based invoice financing, which provides instant liquidity and reduces fraud.
Ganesh Meenavalli, Managing Director of String Metaverse, noted, "The launch of BillsOnChain marks a pivotal moment in the evolution of financial infrastructure. At String Metaverse, we are building the rails for the future of the Internet's transaction economy. By bringing billing systems on-chain, unlocking liquidity, transparency, and programmability at a scale never seen before. Our partnership with The Hashgraph Group allows us to accelerate this vision and deliver real-world impact across industries and governments."
Deepak Lalan, Chief Operating Officer of The Hashgraph Group, added, "We are proud to support String Metaverse in bringing this transformative platform to life. BillsOnChain is a powerful example of how distributed ledger technology can solve real-world challenges in financial systems. With Hedera's robust infrastructure, this platform has the potential to drive significant efficiency, trust, and innovation across global markets."
A New Era for Governments and Enterprises
Built and operated on Hedera network, which is known for its high throughput, low latency, and enterprise-grade security, the BillsOnChain platform ensures reliability and scalability for global adoption and is expected to unlock significant value across multiple use cases:
Government Use Cases
- Transparent public finance and procurement tracking
- Digitization of tax invoices such as VAT and compliance systems
- Reduction in leakages and fraud
Enterprise Use Cases
- Automated accounts receivable and payable systems
- Tokenized invoice financing and liquidity access
- Cross-border billing efficiency and settlement
About String Metaverse
String Metaverse is a publicly listed Web3 infrastructure company building the financial operating system for the digital economy. With a rapidly expanding global footprint, the company focuses on tokenization, decentralized finance (DeFi), high-frequency trading, and next-generation digital asset infrastructure. https://billsonchain.io/
About The Hashgraph Group
The Hashgraph Group AG (THG) is a leading Web3 and AI technology engineering company operating within the Hedera ecosystem and specialized in design, development, and deployment of enterprise-grade solutions and decentralized trust infrastructure. For more information about THG, visit www.hashgraph-group.com.
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The Hashgraph Group and String Metaverse launch "Bills-On-Chain" Platform on Hedera
