Google Maps Economy?:

location based services

"Forbes documents how MySpace, like eBay and Google, has spawned a whole set of businesses to support it. They range from specialists who will spruce up one's page to those who offer free utilities and make money from Google Ads.

No one seems to be guessing at how big that economy is, but it does exist. So, is there a Google Maps economy? What services have sprung up around it?

Off the top of my head I'll offer:

folks who will build custom mashups
folks who offer books to train folks on GMaps
folks who offer training on Gmaps
folks who make money from ads on mashup sites
folks who make money from ads on blog sites on GMaps
folks (like me) who write about Gmaps (et. al.)

Any others you know of?
Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Google at 13:40 | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0)



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Where is the Google Maps economy?

As someone who's company has invested resources in developing a GMaps practice and has seen precious little return, I'd offer the following observations...

1) All manner of services are out there to help plots points on GMaps--and now there's even a Greasemonkey script that takes addresses from an HTML page and plots them on a map. In short, the barriers-to-entry for just getting points on a map are falling rapidly.

2) Google Maps API requires public accessibility to any mashup--so there goes the possibility of a company internally consuming their sensitive data through the interface.

3) It's easier to sell a mashup as part"