“RoadTracer” system from the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory could reduce workload for developers of apps like Google Maps.

Map apps may have changed our world, but they still haven’t mapped all of it yet. Specifically, mapping roads can be difficult and tedious: Even after taking aerial images, companies still have to spend many hours manually tracing out roads. As a result, even companies like Google haven’t yet gotten around to mapping the vast majority of the more than 20 million miles of roadsacross the globe.

Dive Brief:

• E-commerce logistics costs in the U.S. reached $117.2 billion in 2017, according to a report consulting firm Armstrong & Associates (A&A) provided to Supply Chain Dive. E-commerce costs represent 6.9% of total U.S. logistics costs, an increase from 5.2% in 2016.
• Amazon's introduction of Amazon Prime was the "turning point" for e-commerce logistics, A&A said in its report. With the promise of free two-day shipping, the online giant created a "new normal" for consumer deliveries.
• A&A named three factors — delivery speed, delivery price and assortment — as the biggest factors that have transformed e-commerce logistics and created challenges for retailers

The retail giant Carrefour has decided to rely on Geoconcept, the specialist of design and publishing of cartographic optimization solutions, to continue its growth in Belgium.

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has teamed up with Fonterra to trial its Food Trust Framework, an initiative that uses blockchain technology to track consumers food across its supply chain. 

Dive Brief:

• Retailers are shifting their strategies to provide better service for consumers, with nearly half in a survey by Auburn University saying their supply chain management strategy is to balance cost and service. By contrast, only 8% said their strategic focus is to cut costs. 

To enhance service, retailers are focusing on urban markets. 80% surveyed said urban fulfillment is an area of growth, with one respondent describing urban logistics as "the new battleground."

According to a global survey, 78% of consumers want to receive updates on the status of their orders when purchasing goods, and they won't hesitate to switch brands if supply chain performance fails to meet their expectations. 

The retail giant Carrefour has decided to rely on Geoconcept, the specialist of design and publishing of cartographic optimization solutions, to continue its growth in Belgium.

The process of digitizing global supply chains continues to generate a lot of interest and discussion in the industry, perhaps because it’s really about embarking on a transformational journey. While the end destination offers some great potential benefits, there are some key questions for many companies, including: are we even ready to get started? What are the prerequisites to digital supply chain transformation? And once we get started, in what ways can we ultimately achieve value?

The global blockchain in supply chain market is forecast to maintain a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 48% between now and 2023, reaching a total valuation of $424mn of the end of the period.

Many retailers are already using in-store inventory to fulfill online orders in a short timeframe, and that's expected to increase as 40% of logistics companies anticipate offering two-hour delivery by 2028, according to a recent survey of more than 2,700 professionals in transportation, logistics, retail and manufacturing conducted by Zebra Technologies.