About MapAI

We help professionals trust the answers behind place-based decisions.

MapAI is an Australian company spun out of UNSW Sydney. We build the Spatial Evidence Layer: AI-assisted spatial analysis that sits alongside GIS and keeps the evidence behind every answer visible.

The problem we're solving

GIS wasn't built for the way decisions are made today.

Every day, planners, infrastructure teams, policy advisers and analysts need to understand what's true about a place before they can make or recommend a decision. The evidence exists. But it's spread across portals, databases, reports and internal systems, and turning it into an answer takes time, specialist skills and a lot of manual checking.

GIS systems are excellent at managing and mapping data. They weren't designed to make spatial evidence quick to assemble, easy to verify or open to the many professionals who need it. So domain professionals wait for scarce GIS capacity, or work with evidence they can't fully trace.

At the same time, "chat with a map" AI tools are arriving fast. Many give quick answers but hide how they got there. For decisions that affect communities, budgets and infrastructure, that isn't good enough.

MapAI's mission: to make spatial evidence fast to assemble, transparent to inspect and defensible to act on, without taking professional judgement out of the loop.

From research to product

Built on years of research at UNSW City Futures.

MapAI grew out of about two and a half years of research and development at the UNSW City Futures Research Centre, one of Australia's leading urban research centres. The research asked a practical question: how can AI make spatial analysis faster and more accessible without making it less trustworthy?

That work became MapAI, spun out of UNSW Sydney to bring trusted, AI-assisted spatial analysis to the professionals who need it.

2024–25
Selected as the GeoAI engine for Urban Copilot, a project funded through the Australian Government's Cooperative Research Centres Projects program, led by Archistar
2026
MapAI takes on the commercial rights to the Infrastructure Sequencing Engine, developed with UNSW
MapAI Explore
Spatial analysis for professionals, free to start in Australia
Planned for 2027
MapAI Source and the QGIS companion for GIS experts

Principles we build by

Trust is a feature of the product, not a claim on a slide.

Evidence first.

Every answer stands on its sources. Relevant data is brought together before a conclusion is drawn, not stitched on afterwards.

Show the working.

Sources, steps, assumptions and limitations stay visible, so professionals can inspect, verify and defend the work.

Judgement stays human.

We automate the mechanical, repeatable work. Interpretation, uncertainty and accountability stay with the professional.

Sit alongside, not instead of.

MapAI works with the GIS, data and expertise organisations already have. GIS experts stay at the centre of how methods are validated.

Your data stays yours.

Organisations keep ownership of the data they bring. It isn't used to train public models, and Australian hosting with data residency options keeps sensitive place-based work onshore.

Earn trust.

“Trusted” is a standard we work towards through reliable data, transparent methods, validation and provenance. It isn't something we simply claim.

Where MapAI is already at work

The spatial engine behind national planning projects.

MapAI is more than an app. Its engine already powers government-funded planning tools.

Urban Copilot

MapAI provides the geospatial chat and spatial reasoning engine inside Urban Copilot, Archistar's AI planning product that helps industry interpret planning rules and prepare development applications. The project is funded through the Australian Government's Cooperative Research Centres Projects program, with UNSW City Futures as research partner.

Read Archistar's announcement

Infrastructure Sequencing Engine

MapAI holds the commercial rights to the Infrastructure Sequencing Engine, an AI-enabled planning tool being developed with UNSW. It shows where existing infrastructure can absorb new homes, where upgrades are needed, and the best order to deliver transport, utility and community infrastructure. It will be validated with local councils.

Shaped by professionals

MapAI is being tested with teams across state government, local government and the private sector in planning, infrastructure and advisory roles.

How we're governed

Accountable by design.

MapAI Pty Ltd has a board and works under the governance expected of a university spinout handling sensitive public-sector data.

Responsible AI. Answers show their sources and methods. New methods are flagged until a specialist reviews them. Decisions stay with people.
Security and compliance. SOC 2 and ISO 27001 programmes underway.

Work with us.

Trial MapAI with your team.

We work with government and industry teams on structured trials built around a real workflow.

Become a data partner.

Reach professionals who need your data, with licensing and attribution built in.

Email us

Research collaboration.

Work with MapAI and UNSW City Futures on applied GeoAI research.