It didn’t take Google long to innovate again. Several months ago I wrote about Google’s acquisition of Keyhole, describing how it provides Google with a means of presenting location based information. It appears that this may be the first step that’s required before the fruits of that acquisition can be harvested – enter Google Maps.
Previously I described a query where you might ask about who voted for Kerry – a simple enough query – obviously from an advertising perspective there’s more to be had by enabling queries on commercial properties: the example on the introductory tour is a query for sushi restaurants in New York, I tried a similar query for Palo Alto and it seems to be jolly successful at showing up the place where I first had Sushi, on University Avenue, back in 1998. Finding the hotel where I stayed, Dinah’s Garden, was similarly easy.
So, although it’s not possible yet to see the data in 3D (with terrain-mapped aerial photos so we can’t yet see if the hotels and restaurants are nicely situated on a hill with great views of the valley); the combination of the two services can’t be far off – Google now has it’s foot firmly in the door of a significantly untapped marketplace; and importantly, the service is both highly usable and useful.