The subject of this article has taken many Web Logs (excuse me Blogs - we are in 2005!!) by storm since being released a little over 3 months ago.  Some of you may have been there.  If you haven’t seen it then be prepared for a surprise – to quote the editor of the magazine “It’s pretty slick” – go to http://maps.google.com for a ride.  Also try the Satellite link in the top right corner, go to Las Vegas and see if you can recognise any landmarks such as The Sphinx…

Alternatively you may wish to find a location closer to home i.e. in the UK, then you can always go to http://maps.google.co.uk/ as this has just been launched.  Unfortunately, at the time of writing, there is no satellite or aerial imagery but I’m sure that will come as it is available through Keyhole.

I subscribe to a number of mailing lists and read a variety of Blogs related to GI.  Some of the feeds on Google Maps have been quite astonishing.  They vary from the highly critical “Google are going back in time with tiled raster maps and ruining web mapping standards” to the fanatical “I was able to ‘scrape’ the information and produce a web application built using the Google maps”… – http://paulrademacher.com/housing/”

Tiled Raster Maps

One log caught me by surprise with its attitude, and that the author was aghast that Google was going back in time with tiled raster maps.  Google Maps has a pre-built set of tiled raster images at a variety of map scales.  The scale presented to the user is predetermined by the application, which always ensures a crystal clear view of the map. 

Why?

<!--[if !supportLists]-->1        <!--[endif]-->Use of existing infrastructure

Being one of the most used sites on the internet means you need a large network of servers.  Google has this.  Google also has the capability of streaming all kinds of information such as text and, yes, you guessed it - images.  I would shudder to think of the costs in terms of licences involved, if standard commercial GIS technologies were used.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->2        <!--[endif]-->Why recreate a base map over and over again from vector data?

The advantage for Google (and many other organisations) is that there is no need for the base maps to be dynamic. This base mapping is pure and simple and it will only change when Google choose.  Google simply overlay information in a different way – through web technologies such as Streaming XML, JavaScript and Cascading Style Sheets etc.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->3        <!--[endif]-->Browser caching

When small map tile images are sent through to a users' browser they are cached.  What is the advantage?  When the user goes back to a previously viewed location it is there in a snap and precious bandwidth is not wasted in sending the images out again.  In a nutshell it’s lightening fast!

Where the Money Is

As mentioned in other articles and blogs there are reasons why Google and others are moving into this space – revenue i.e. cash. Google should get a pat on the back for its clever programming.  One example in their labs at present is Ride Finder (http://labs.google.com/ridefinder) which shows, in real-time, where taxis are available in a variety of US cities. This is where they will generate their revenue along with the associated advertising and also from other sites choosing to embed this mapping technology.

The Road Ahead

I believe that GIS will continue to grow at the same rate that I’ve seen over the last 15 years but the use of maps and location based services is about to balloon.  The distinct difference being that GIS has become an enabling technology that pushes location based decisions into day to day business processes. The technology itself will remain hidden for only the resulting answers will be used. Most of the leading software companies in the world are investing in GIS or Location Based Services - Oracle, Microsoft, Google, IBM, SAP etc.

I became aware of Google’s move into mapping about 9 months ago when I found out that they had bought Keyhole, a US company that brashly claimed it was going to deliver 3D mapping of the entire earth over the Internet. 

The following links are to video presentations created by Microsoft to promote their new operating system, Longhorn. The use of maps and GI is quite interesting and I especially like the ‘magic carpet ride’

• Telecommunication
• Commercial Real Estate
• Local Government

http://msdn.microsoft.com/Longhorn/productinfo/conceptvid/default.aspx

Into Everyday Life

Consumers now have incredible access to mapping through the web from Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Multimap, Traffic Master etc and in every case the complexity of the technology remains hidden.  I am busy everyday with web technologies so if you have any threads you’d like me to follow or have any comments on what you have read so far then please do not hesitate to contact me at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it