EU Sovereignty Score
EU sovereignMaps & NavigationHeadquarters: DE

SmartMaps: sovereignty score and 8 European alternatives

SmartMaps is a map platform from YellowMap AG in Karlsruhe that organisations integrate into websites, apps and software through an API. It offers interactive maps in several styles, including satellite and 3D views, display of addresses, points, lines and areas, address autocomplete, geocoding and routing. The vendor also builds store finders and location applications on the same technology and offers consulting and data management. According to the vendor, it has built geodata applications for around 25 years and aims for privacy by design.

YellowMap AG is headquartered in Karlsruhe, Germany, and no foreign parent company is named. The vendor states that its solutions run on its own servers in German data centres, that no tracking takes place and that no personal data is stored permanently or passed on. It describes SmartMaps as compliant with the GDPR. For a European organisation this keeps map requests, which can reveal the locations and addresses of users, under EU jurisdiction instead of with a US map provider. The website does not mention a self-hosted edition.

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Sovereignty score
71 / 1000 = high exposure
100 = sovereign
  • Jurisdiction SOV-2100
    Headquartered in the EU: European law applies
  • Data residency SOV-3100
    EU-only hosting
  • Cryptographic key sovereignty SOV-360
    Key management with a European vendor
  • Freedom from lock-in SOV-640
    Closed source: switching requires data migration
  • Source & runtime sovereignty SOV-4 · SOV-655
    Closed source, runtime with the vendor

SOV codes: the matching objective in the European Commission's Cloud Sovereignty Framework. Official source

How the score is calculated

Facts and evidence

Last checked October 14, 2026
Headquarters
DE (EU)Verified by hand
Sovereignty model
Vendor-hosted (EU)Verified by hand
Data hosting
EUVerified by hand
Open-source
NoVerified by hand
GDPR-compliant
YesVendor-stated
Category
Maps & Navigation
Type
Product
Website
yellowmap.com ↗

How we verify · Something wrong? Suggest a correction

Top EU-based & GDPR-compliant alternatives to SmartMaps

The European alternatives to SmartMaps come from our knowledge base of over 9,200 vendors. We only list vendors headquartered in the EU or the EEA; fully European-owned vendors rank before vendors with a foreign owner. For each alternative you see the country, the open-source status and a short description.

Score per alternative: 0 = high exposure, 100 = sovereign

50 European Maps & Navigation vendors are in the catalogue. View the whole category · Submit an alternative · View category on the map

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Why digital sovereignty matters with SmartMaps

SmartMaps is headquartered in DE and therefore falls under European law: the GDPR, NIS2 and the Data Act. No foreign legislation can compel access to your data.

Data is hosted exclusively in the EU, so SmartMaps scores best on data residency.

SmartMaps is closed source and hosted by the vendor. The encryption keys and the runtime sit with the vendor and switching requires data migration. Ask about bring-your-own-key, export options and open standards.

What this means for your organisation depends on your whole stack and context. The free assessment weighs SmartMaps together with your other vendors and gives a total score, a heatmap and the main risk drivers.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best European alternative to SmartMaps?

It depends on your use case. Strong EU alternatives to SmartMaps include Bikemap, BRouter and calimoto. On this page you can compare 8 EU alternatives by jurisdiction, data residency and open-source status.

Are there open-source alternatives to SmartMaps?

Yes. Open-source EU alternatives to SmartMaps include BRouter, CartoGuide (Vido) and Digitransit. These keep your data fully under your own control and let you self-host if you want to.

Is SmartMaps GDPR-compliant and where is the data hosted?

SmartMaps is headquartered in DE (EU) and hosts data in EU. That makes SmartMaps an EU-sovereign choice in its own right; the EU alternatives on this page are comparable European tools.

Details and sources

Verified by handHeadquarters, owner, hosting locations and licence have been checked by us against public sources. Free of charge and for every vendor, not a paid label. Nothing in this knowledge base is taken over automatically. Last checked on October 14, 2026.

Sources

Public sources used in the latest check of this record.

Compliance evidence

The links below point to the vendor's own public documents. We only record what we found: a missing link means "not found publicly", not "not compliant".

No public compliance evidence has been recorded for this vendor yet. Do you know its DPA or subprocessor list? Something wrong? Suggest a correction

In the changelog

Earlier changes to this page, as listed in the public changelog.

Digital sovereignty in Maps & Navigation

Maps & Navigation: Maps, route planning and navigation services. In this category the choice of vendor determines who has legal access to your data, where that data lives and how easily you can switch later.

Also in this category

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8 European alternatives to SmartMaps — GDPR-compliant & EU-hosted · EU Sovereignty Score