Where’s my free map gone?
The Google Maps API was never meant to be free. It was an inspired accident. Clever developers reverse engineered the Google Maps site, and rather than send a cease and desist, Google published the API…more here.
The rest is history. The ‘system integrators’ day rate was slashed as the ‘mashup’ was born, and a wave of web API’s followed. The general consensus is that this is just good business sense, ‘we’d hoped advertising would have funded the API, it hasn’t, so now we need to charge some money’ – hum, I wonder if there’s more beneath the surface?
When considering this news alongside other press releases in the Google Geo space this year, like this one last week announcing GeoEyes investment in Google Earth Builder, it appears to be a deliberate shift in focus from consumer GIS to enterprise GIS. I really struggle to understand, why?
Why does an advertising & search company, who revolutionised advertising by removing the large sales force and middlemen, staff up to sell enterprise software?
One Comment, Comment or Ping
Adam Hil
Well… to some of us they sent a C&D order
(The WorldWind community)
Oct 28th, 2011