Canada is a far more wealthy country than Mexico. Though it is...

Canada is a far more wealthy country than Mexico. Though it is huge in area ( biggest or 2nd biggest in the world?) the vast majority of the population resides in a narrow -ish belt just above the border with the US (think the major cities Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal). Also the fact it's an English speaking country (ok not Montreal) would also make it easier.

I woold have thought maybe targeting Asia (esp China and Japan) before Europe? But then this is getting overspeculative.

As for Europe, the UK could have been a good start (esp with England being one of the most densely populated areas on Earth) except for the whole car crash nonsense of Brexit, which makes basing a european operation in the UK fraught with risk. There is still no clarity for businesses (or people for that matter) on what the future UK- EU relationship would look like. Netherlands or even Ireland, with their lower company taxes (Ireland being the lowest) would be better places to start.

And regarding EU privacy requirements - as google maps satellite + street view managed to go about their business without breaking laws (though there were some controversies), surely Nearmap would be able to do the same.