Maps as Global Infrastructure — The Next Geo 2026 Opening Keynote

Over the last 15 years, maps have evolved from visual products into critical digital infrastructure. In this keynote for The Next Geo 2026, hosted by Geoawesome, Cherie Wong, the Senior Vice President of Location Services at Mapbox, explores how modern mapping platforms are built, scaled, and trusted to power navigation, logistics, automotive systems, and AI-driven applications. Highlights include: • What Does "Geospatial Infrastructure" Actually Mean? • How Mapbox Thinks About Infrastructure • Stories of Real-World Impact of Mapbox Geospatial Infrastructure • Exploration of the Next Frontier of Geospatial Infrastructure as Maps combine with AI About the speakers: Cherie Wong leads all Location Services at Mapbox. Her mission at Mapbox is to work closely with Product and Engineering teams to drive consistency, accelerate innovation, and build a product roadmap aligned to scaling Mapbox core services globally. Prior to Mapbox, Cherie led Payments Engineering at PayPal. Before that, she spent 16 years at Amazon, taking on key roles in Fulfillment and Robotics, Search & Discovery, Cloudfront & AWS Data Transfer, and AWS Industrial IoT Services. Muthu Kumar and Aleks Buczkowski are the founders and chief editors of Geoawesome, the world’s largest geospatial community united by its belief in the power of location technology to transform the world for the better. Since its founding in 2011, Geoawesome (previously Geoawesomeness) has striven to be an open and inclusive platform for geospatial experts and enthusiasts to share their passion, knowledge, and expertise for all things geo. Today over 300+ professionals have shared their expertise via the platform: https://geoawesomeness.com/