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Google Announces New 3D Features for Google Earth, Is "Committed to Offering" Google Maps on 'All Platforms'

I still have a hard time understanding the business case for this.

It must cost a fortune to effectively map the world from airborne platform in 3D, just so people can access it on google maps and google can sell a few ads? There must be another income stream in this somewhere that google isn't telling us about.
 
Kauai said:
You know, it isn't a crime to admit that a company other than Apple does something well.

And Google does very well with Maps. I just can't see Apple committing to the same amount of real world work they do in order to make sure Google Maps is the best.
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True. But same can be said about Google in the case of Maps.

Apple knows this and is why they acquired companies with unique technology in this field. One of which is noted in the article and is an approach Google was following with their 3D map creation. Could be that C3 had a huge head start and Google has been playing catchup since the acquisition. Who knows. Hopefully we will find out soon.
 
Hastings101 said:
Siri, one of the least reliable and least useful Apple products of the decade, is going to single handedly defeat one of the world's most reliable and well-known search engines? Lol :D
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Lol, Google's not going anywhere. Just like Apple isn't gonna suddenly enter the aviation business and put Boeing out. Apple isn't the world-dominating company some people think they are :rolleyes:
 
olowott said:
Last minute card played by Google:(.........Monday aint far away :)
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yeah i heard this was in development for about... 1-2 minutes, (NOT):(

how on earth can you call this last minute?

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SockRolid said:
Good luck getting Google Maps approved for the iOS App Store.

Apple can and will change the rules.
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not if they really do want the best user experience, only time will tell.
 
Technology is improving so much. I always dreamed as a kid a miniature world I can look around in. Now it's coming true. I'm curious as to how much technology will leave to the imagination for future generations.
 
Does anyone really care about 3D buildings? I really don't see the need/point of it. Not for a standard maps program. I could care less what the building looks like. I can see other uses for this technology, though (flight sims, as others have pointed out).
 
SockRolid said:
Good luck getting Google Maps approved for the iOS App Store.

Apple can and will change the rules.
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By that logic all map and gps apps will be removed from the store. Lets stop with this line of FUD. Yes, Apple can be capricious with app store rules but they rarely turn around and outright ban an entire category of apps (only ones that come to mind are the ones that were trying to replace the springboard).
 
8ate8 said:
Does anyone really care about 3D buildings? I really don't see the need/point of it. Not for a standard maps program. I could care less what the building looks like. I can see other uses for this technology, though (flight sims, as others have pointed out).
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I agree with you. Games/VR Reality stuff could easily use this in a very very cool way but aside from the first few times using it just to see it, I don't see it being very practical in the real world. I dunno I could be totally wrong, I really want to see this in action.

Does Google Earth come out in a few weeks and then when does the Maps out come, towards the end of the year? The live blog I was watching didn't relay this info clearly, IMO.
 
fabian9 said:
I still have a hard time understanding the business case for this.

It must cost a fortune to effectively map the world from airborne platform in 3D, just so people can access it on google maps and google can sell a few ads? There must be another income stream in this somewhere that google isn't telling us about.
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They know what business/product you're looking for at what time and at what location.

Based on your location and directions request, they can figure out where you live, where you work, where you study, where you go on vacation.

They can then even make statistics about the time you wake up and leave home, the time you get back from work, the time you eat, etc.

It's a gold mine of information that's valuable to a lot of different companies.

If you install Google Latitude, you will be able to see some of those statistics.
 
macrumorsuser10 said:
Google is in panic mode, and this ad hoc presentation with no product availability date show it. They're basically saying "Hey, we used to be important in maps." What's worse is that Apple will probably move completely away from Google in the next few years. Maps is just the beginning; Google search will be obsoleted when Siri and semantic voice search comes to its full potential.

_________________
Owning an Android phone makes a statement, and that statement is: "Yeah, this is where I am in life. It's not where I want to be, but I'm doing my best."
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I think google STILL IS important in maps. What do you use when you're looking up an address on your desktop or laptop? Bing? Mapquest? or Google Maps? I venture to guess it's Google Maps.

Your signature speaks volumes of your maturity by the way.
 
8ate8 said:
Does anyone really care about 3D buildings? I really don't see the need/point of it. Not for a standard maps program. I could care less what the building looks like. I can see other uses for this technology, though (flight sims, as others have pointed out).
Click to expand...

it makes the map feature of google glass more impressive.
 
Google abandoned iOS's maps for 4 years. They start improving it because Apple decided to develop their own maps. Don't be evil, Google! :mad:
 
fabian9 said:
I still have a hard time understanding the business case for this.

It must cost a fortune to effectively map the world from airborne platform in 3D, just so people can access it on google maps and google can sell a few ads? There must be another income stream in this somewhere that google isn't telling us about.
Click to expand...

I think the business case is pretty much what you stated. Ads and search. Google really has no choice at this point but to spend the $$$. Being the market leader by a long shot, Google also has been sitting on its laurels. Last big thing was streetview. They had no real competition and no reason to expand or innovate further. That is until Apple acquired companies with cool technology and innovative map ideas, which forced Google to open their wallet to expand their offerings. Google has allot to loose. Their revenue stream is basically all Ad revenue. Android use is a given but a loss of iOS maps and revenue is another. Apple isn't spending the $$ just to bring better maps iOS either, it has to be about AD revenue or another $$ motive to justify the expense. Or its plainly just to hurt Google profit wise.
 
Looks great, Google keep reminding me why I chose Android for my smartphone platform of choice :D
 
MacFather said:
Image


Image
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google-earth-meteo.jpg
 
This is one of their killer apps (Maps, Search, Gmail)


Apple could possible hit them right in the mouth with their own mapping solution. If they bring something better and more integration, this could be a big problem for Google revenue


If not, then Google will continue to dominate with the superior product
 
8ate8 said:
Does anyone really care about 3D buildings? I really don't see the need/point of it. Not for a standard maps program. I could care less what the building looks like. I can see other uses for this technology, though (flight sims, as others have pointed out).
Click to expand...

Does anyone really care about

GUI / mouse
Wifi
lack of floppy drive
iPod
iPhone
lack of optical drive
thin and light MacBook air
iPad
 
fabian9 said:
I still have a hard time understanding the business case for this.

It must cost a fortune to effectively map the world from airborne platform in 3D, just so people can access it on google maps and google can sell a few ads? There must be another income stream in this somewhere that google isn't telling us about.
Click to expand...

96% of Google's revenue comes from ads. Do the math.
 
i smell something :D feel free to downvote but from what i've read every single journalist who attended this conference said that they could feel lack of confidence, something's up
 
FFArchitect said:
Please get this into flight sims.
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I CAN'T AGREE WITH YOU MORE!!!

I don't care if the data size of a 3D map of my city area was 2TB in size... I would buy a hard drive just to hold the data.

If it meant that I could have VFR identical to real life... I'd buy it!!!!!!
 
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