Alibaba’s location-based services platform, Amap has launched “Amap Street Stars,” an AI-powered ranking to help its 170 million daily active users discover beloved local favorites. Under Alibaba’s user-first strategy, this launch will advance Amap’s role as the gateway for lifestyle services.

Featured on the Amap app homepage, the ranking uses AI algorithms to synthesize multiple data points - including navigation patterns and genuine user reviews - to rank offline destinations, everything from local restaurants and hotels to tourist attractions.Amap anticipates this initiative will help bring an additional 10 million daily customers to these local businesses.

The system is further enhanced by user-consented trust metrics such as the users’ credit rating. This multifaceted approach aims to combat biased reviews and rating “gamification,” a common pain point for online review platforms.

As a household name in China, Amap’s massive user base provides a deep understanding of real-world consumer behavior. Each day, the platform processes over 120 million service-related searches and more than 13 million navigations to local businesses, creating a trove of authentic behavioral data that powers the “Street Stars” guide.

“Street Stars” helps users discover the kind of hidden gems tucked away in side streets – those beloved by locals but often lacking a marketing budget – by surfacing them based on repeat visits and genuine high ratings from Amap’s vast user base.

To further drive user engagement and consumption at these destinations, Amap is committing over RMB1 billion subsidies in consumer transportation and offline spending.

“Authenticity is the ranking’s core principle,” said Amap CEO Guo Ning. “We are committed to genuinely reflecting our users’ choices and encouraging deserving local businesses to focus on quality and heartfelt service.”

At launch, “Street Stars” covers over 300 cities and features recommendations for 1.6 million local businesses.

This builds on Amap’s recent AI upgrade, which introduced advanced spatial intelligence to deliver proactive, personalized, location-based services, and marks the next step of its AI evolution.

The progression follows comments from Alibaba Group CEO Eddie Wu, who emphasized Amap’s importance on a recent earnings call, as a “new gateway for future lifestyle services”.

With this launch, Amap is bridging the gap between its large online user base and offline commerce. The combined strength of to-destination services and on-demand deliveries is expected to lay a solid foundation for Alibaba’s comprehensive consumption platform strategy, serving the diverse, daily life needs of its massive consumer base.