Updates include fee-based licensing and support for businesses wanting to embed Google Maps in Web sites. Google also released a new version of Google Earth for consumers.
Google Inc. recently unveiled several updates to its mapping product suite, including better imagery and new tools for developers who want to embed the applications in Web sites.
Google launched the upgrades at its first Geo Developer Day, held at the company’s Mountain View, Calif., headquarters.
The latest upgrades to the mapping tools rank among the company’s biggest successes outside the Internet-leading search engine that steers much of the Web’s traffic. The improvements include a major expansion of the satellite imagery included in Google’s three-dimensional software for touring Earth.
Among the announcements were updates to the application programming interfaces (APIs) of Google Maps, which provides street maps, driving directions and local search. In merging geographic information with the online applications, developers can now integrate geo-code addresses. Geo-coding is the process of assigning geographic coordinates, such as latitude and longitude.
Maps for Business
Other API updates include a new feature that enables the display of Keyhole Markup Language (KML) on Google Maps. KML is the file format used by Google Earth and other applications to share geographic information. With the upgrade, geographic information designed for Google Earth now can be displayed with maps.
The feature enables data created in Google Earth, which provide satellite views of locations, to be seen in a Web browser as an embedded component of a site. KML requires no computer programming expertise, Google said.
Google Maps also is getting down to business. Google announced fee-based licensing for companies that want to use Google Maps on their Web sites or internally for such purposes as tracking shipments or seeing patterns of customer locations.
Jennifer Simpson, a Yankee Group analyst, said the added functionalities target tech-oriented consumers, but the technology might easily move beyond them to be of interest to a broader audience.
I see these kinds of satellite and mapping functions for Google Earth and Maps, as well as for the similar Microsoft Live Local, she said, "possibly extending how social networks and organizations grow online."
100 Million Downloads
The Mountain View, Calif., company said four times more land will be covered in the latest version of its free Google Earth software, enabling about one-third of the world’s population to obtain an aerial view of their homes and neighborhood.
More than 100 million people have downloaded Google Earth software since it was offered a year ago, according to figures released by the company for the first time.
"We are excited to celebrate the one year anniversary of Google Earth and the Google Maps API with new technologies for these products," said John Hanke, director of Google Earth and Maps, in a statement.
The software also is being offered in German, Spanish, French and Italian. The computer coding for the first time will work on Linux operating platforms, a breakthrough likely to broaden the product’s appeal.
In the past year, said Hanke, more than 100 million people have downloaded Google Earth and over 30,000 Web sites have used the technology to create mash-ups combining their own geographic data with the Google Maps API.
The Google Maps API (Application Programming Interface), which allows developers to create mashups — the merging of geographic data, such as crime rates or apartments for rent, with Google Maps — also have been updated.
It now allows mash-up data to be geocoded according to addresses, which Google said had been a much-requested feature.
Meanwhile, Google’s online mapping service for finding directions and locating businesses has emerged as a major challenger to the longtime leaders in the category, AOL’s Mapquest and Yahoo Inc.
Google Maps attracted 26 million U.S. visitors in May to rank third behind Mapquest at 43.5 million visitors and Yahoo at 26.1 million, according to Nielsen/NetRatings Inc. The traffic at Google’s mapping service tripled during the past year, while the volume of visitors at Mapquest and Yahoo rose by less than 20%, Nielsen/NetRatings said.
Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt hailed the company’s mapping products as "one of the defining opportunities around search."
For all its inroads in mapping, Google still has not provided a clear road map for making money from the products – much to the dismay of Wall Street analysts.
Google took a small step toward addressing that concern by announcing it will license usage of its online maps to businesses and government agencies that want to customize the service. The licenses, expected to begin at about $ 10,000 annually, will include support from Google’s engineering staff.
The online maps already have enabled programmers to create Web sites that draw upon independent databases to graphically illustrate information about everything from local crime statistics to apartments available for rent in specific neighborhoods.
Using Google’s free Sketchup software, for instance, users have been able to create 3D buildings and other structures to place on Google Earth. The new update enables the creation and placement of buildings with texture.
For consumers, Google launched a new version of Google Earth with a more streamlined user interface, and the addition of textured buildings to raise the level of realism and detail, the company said. Google also released a Linux version of Earth, and added to the index high-resolution imagery that now covers more than a third of the world’s population.
Despite the licensing plans, Google emphasized it plans to improve its application programming interface to make it easier to create even more mapping mashups.
Google hosted more than 200 Web developers at its headquarters to trumpet its upgrades.