[Edaily Reporter Shin Yeong-bin ] Naver (NAVER(035420)) has awarded a 5.6 billion won contract for a road data construction project to enhance its maps of Saudi Arabia. While expanding its local road data, the company is also accelerating its “super app” initiative, which connects lifestyle services—such as reservations and payments—through its map app.

According to a disclosure by Japan’s Dynamic Map Platform (DMP) on the 6th, Naver Innovation—Naver’s joint venture in Saudi Arabia—signed a contract with DMP Arabia on the 27th of last month for local road surveys and road network data construction. The contract amount is 15,913,451 riyals (approximately 5.6 billion won), excluding value-added tax.

DMP is a Japanese company specializing in high-precision 3D maps used for autonomous driving and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). This contract was secured by DMP Arabia, DMP’s local subsidiary in Saudi Arabia, through a consortium formed with South Korea’s Inavi Systems. DMP Arabia serves as the lead contractor, while Inavi Systems will carry out the actual road data collection.

According to Naver Cloud, this contract is intended to secure the raw road data necessary for map development. The company explained that, given Saudi Arabia’s vast territory, which requires significant manpower and time for field surveys and data collection, the government decided to procure the data through external vendors.

In addition to the data secured through this contract, Naver is also utilizing data provided by the Saudi government for map development. The road data commissioned this time is just a portion of the total source data.

Naver’s operations in Saudi Arabia gained momentum in 2023 when it was awarded a contract by the local government to build digital twin platforms for major cities. This project involves recreating real-world cities in a virtual space for use in urban planning, building management, and disaster response.

Last year, Naver prioritized the completion of digital twin platforms for three cities: Mecca, Medina, and Jeddah. Covering a total area of approximately 6,800 square kilometers—more than 11 times the size of Seoul—the platforms feature over 920,000 buildings rendered in a digital space. They also provide urban management functions such as terrain and sunlight analysis, as well as flood simulations.

In August of this year, Naver’s digital twin platform was adopted as Saudi Arabia’s national standard platform. The Saudi Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs recommended that national and local governments prioritize the use of Naver’s platform when building digital twins. This has laid the groundwork for the project—which began with individual cities—to expand into a national-level urban management system.

Naver has also established a local operational hub. Last year, Naver Cloud established a joint venture, Naver Innovation, with NHC Innovation, the digital subsidiary of the Saudi National Housing Company (NHC). This entity is driving digital twin and map-based super-app initiatives.

On the 29th of last month, it launched the beta service of the map app “Baladi Plus.” Available throughout Saudi Arabia in Arabic and English, it provides driving and walking directions as well as public transportation information. Naver has established a system to collect road and location data by driving directly on local roads and regularly updating the information as changes occur.

In the future, the company plans to integrate reservation and payment functions with location search and navigation. The vision is to gradually expand lifestyle services—such as restaurant and beauty salon reservations, delivery orders, and ticket bookings—and to introduce conversational Agent AI. This approach connects services so that users who find a location on the map can proceed to an actual visit and make a purchase.

The spatial information sector, where Naver is expanding its business, is expected to grow in tandem with Saudi Arabia’s urban development and digital transformation. Market research firm Mordor Intelligence forecasts that the Saudi geospatial analytics market will grow from $1.68 billion this year to $2.79 billion by 2031, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.63%.

Karan Chechi, Research Director at TechSirius Research, analyzed, “The Saudi smart city market will grow rapidly, driven by the ‘Vision 2030’ policy aimed at economic diversification and improving urban living,” adding, “Investments in cutting-edge technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), AI, and big data are driving the development of sustainable infrastructure, smart transportation, and energy-efficient systems.”