Enlarge / The Overture Maps logo. (credit: Overture Maps Foundation)

Google Maps is getting some competition. The Linux Foundation has announced Overture Maps, a "new collaborative effort to develop interoperable open map data as a shared asset that can strengthen mapping services worldwide." It's an open source mapping effort that includes a list of heavy hitters: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Meta, Microsoft, and TomTom, with the foundation adding that the project is "open to all communities with a common interest in building open map data."

The Linux Foundation has a press release about the project and a new website for the Overture Maps Foundation. The press release outlined the scope of the project, which aims to deliver:

• Collaborative Map Building: Overture aims to incorporate data from multiple sources including Overture Members, civic organizations, and open data sources.
• Global Entity Reference System : Overture will simplify interoperability with a system that links entities from different data sets to the same real-world entities.
• Quality Assurance Processes : Overture data will undergo validation to detect map errors, breakage, and vandalism to help ensure that map data can be used in production systems.
• Structured Data Schema : Overture will define and drive adoption of a common, structured, and documented data schema to create an easy-to-use ecosystem of map data.

If you're saying, "Wait! isn't there already an open source map community out there?"  There is, and it's called " OpenStreetMap ," the Wikipedia of maps that anyone can edit. The Overture press release says, "The project will seek to integrate with existing open map data from projects such as OpenStreetMap and city planning departments, along with new map data contributed by members and built using computer vision and AI/ML techniques to create a living digital record of the physical world."

Enlarge / The PyTorch logo on a fancy gradient. (credit: PyTorch Foundation)

Meta AI announced today that the governance of PyTorch, a popular open source deep learning framework, has moved to an independent organization called the PyTorch Foundation . It will operate as part of the nonprofit Linux Foundation, and its governing board includes representatives from Nvidia, Meta, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and AMD.

The move comes as the adoption of the PyTorch framework has become widely used across the deep learning industry to power many natural language and computer vision projects, including Tesla Autopilot . Meta cites more than 2,400 contributors and 150,000 projects built on the framework. Spinning PyTorch off into its own foundation avoids potential conflicts of interest that might come if PyTorch were only controlled by Meta, which created the framework.

"The PyTorch Foundation will strive to adhere to four principles," wrote Meta in a blog post announcing the news. "Remaining open, maintaining neutral branding, staying fair, and forging a strong technical identity. One of the foundation's main priorities is to maintain a clear separation between the business and technical governance of PyTorch."