Formerly known as Google Earth Builder, the Maps Engine API will enable developers to create and share customized Google Maps within web- or mobile-based applications.

Rather than just doing a standard "hey, look at the cool product!" blog post, Google opted to bring in FedEx for a customer spotlight on the Google Enterprise Blog.

Pat Doyle, Manager IT, FedEx, outlined how it plugged its database of store and pickup point information into Google Maps so that store and drop-box information was mapped out on a real-time basis, with pickup schedules and store hours kept continuously updated.

"Everyone who looks at this says, 'Wow, this is the way a store locator ought to be,'" Doyle stated in a video describing FedEx's journey to using the Maps Engine API.

Using maps for such a seemingly mundane thing as a store locator tool may not seem like a big deal, but it's a clear indicator that this is how Google wants to work with enterprise customers: share its wealth of acquired data (in this case, maps) for such integrated tools. The payoff? Collaborators have a way to get cloud-based, easier-to-implement apps for mobile and Web customers, and Google widens its footprint on the mobile Web even more.

(See also: The Future Of Google Maps: Social, Personalized And Way Smarter)

As users look for the release of the new Google Maps interface announced during I/O last month, expect to see more collaborations like this with enterprise customers deploying map-based tools as a gateway to richer mobile Web experiences.

You Don't Have To Go That Far

You might think you need an exotic destination far into the wilderness to get beyond the capabilities of Google's very capable maps. That is not always the case. I live six to seven hours south of Washington, DC, along North Carolina’s Southern Outer Banks near the town of Emerald Isle.

One trick to impressing your friends with a walk on the wild side is to find an area of beach that changes regularly. I learned this pretty much by accident.

When we moved to the coast seven years ago, I had visions of driving my pickup truck on the beach. One popular place is called the Point - the western tip of Bogue Banks Island in the town of Emerald Isle. Just after I bought my beach driving permit in the fall of 2007, the beach at the Point disappeared - as you can see from this picture. Acres of sand were covered by water.

A couple of years later, the sand started coming back. Today there is more than 1,450 feet of sand to the edge of the water. Google Maps, using annual aerial photographs, simply can't keep up.

Above is a current Google map of two of my hikes. The red line was a hike we took in August of 2012. The blue line was a hike in May of 2013. As you can see, either I know how to walk on water or the map isn't accurate.

Create Your Own Maps

Creating a map like this to impress with your friends is actually pretty simple.

First you need to get access to Google’s My Maps. The next requirement is a smartphone that works with an app that can communicate with Google’s My Maps. (Go to Customize and Share in Google Maps, and scroll down to My Maps for instructions on how to do this.)

My Tracks Is A Great Tool

Google’s My Tracks is one of the main reasons I use an Android smartphone. All you have to do is launch My Tracks when you go on a hike. Stop the track recording when you finish your hike and “Send to Google.” My Tracks will create a new map (It can do some other cool things, too, but that's a different post). To compare a second hike of the same area, just send both tracks to the same map.

You can even use My Tracks to create a map recording a series of hikes - I do this to creat my annual Emerald Isle beach survey. They're are a great way to show people that you have gone beyond the regular Google maps.

Maps, Albums & Photos

The next step, if you are willing to spend a little more time and enjoy digital photography you can create an album with your photographs mapped into it. Here's an album I created on a recent hike on the beach.

If your camera does GPS, all you have to do is upload the photos into something like Picasa Web Albums. I keep one of my Gmail accounts separate from my Google+ identity just so I can use the neat maps that show up in Picasa Web Albums.

If your camera isn't GPS-enabled, adding GPS data is actually pretty simple:

1. Synchronize the time on your smartphone and the time on your camera.
2. If you are using the My Tracks app, after you have sent your track to Google, do a “Save to External Storage.” Choose “Save as GPX.”
3. After it is saved, select the “Share track file” option and email it to yourself.

When I get back from the beach, I import all the photos into my computer and save the ones that I like to an album in Adobe's Lightroom 4, which just happens to have a mapping module. Next I download the GPX track file that I emailed to myself. I select all the photos in the album, choose the Lightroom 4 command “Load Tracklog” and then “Auto-Tag” the photos. Almost instantly all your photos pick up GPS information. Then I export the photos to a folder, load them into Picasa and send them to the Web and share the album with my amazed friends.

While it may sound complicated, it is actually pretty easy. And it creates some wonderful memories of places beyond the reach of most map services.

In addition to a redesigned, vector-based browser UI built in open Web standards, the new Google Maps will incorporate information about the user to build out a far more personalized experience. Using much of the same data that Google Now employs, Maps will deliver personalized recommendations, social tagging and smarter insights into where its users should go next - and how to get there. Indeed, the way Google Maps gives directions has also been redesigned with more intuitive, landmark-based querying and more thorough and accurate transit directions. 

Another significant addition to the Maps UI is what they're calling Cards. For each location, Google Maps will display a Card highlighting key information, photos and pertinent social data. 

The most vocal ooh's and ahh's came from the crowd at Google I/O when Maps Product Manager Bernie Seefeld unveiled the new immersive and 3D experiences through which Maps can zip. This includes indoor StreetView-style views of restaurants and other local businesses, as well as 3D flyovers of cities and landmarks built in part from crowdsourced user photos. 

Users can also zoom all the way out to a planet-level view, displaying and rotating the Earth, which shows clouds and sunlight - and night views - in real time. 

The updated Google Maps experience will be available on iOS and Android in June. Starting tomorrow, eager early adopters can test it out on the desktop. You can request an invitation to the new Maps by clicking this link.

Photo by Nick Statt for ReadWrite

When asked about the acquisition, a Facebook spokesperson told me: "We don't comment on rumor or speculation."

The Israel-based Waze claims 30 million users and bills itself as the world's "fastest-growing community-based traffic and navigation app." Waze users allow the app to send their driving details to others in the area - for example, how long their commute is taking. Users can also provide additional details on their commute, report accidents and offer driver tips. 

Waze users can share their driving activity with Facebook friends from within the app. Waze has long utilized Facebook to help promote its service - though users do not require a Facebook account.

Waze is considered a direct competitor to Google Maps, whose service also offers real-time traffic data. If Apple does not acquire Waze, it could be due to Waze's insistence, according to Bloomberg, that its ongoing development remain in Israel and that its brand be maintained.

This is less likely a concern for Facebook. When Facebook acquired the popular photo sharing app, Instagram, last year, it allowed the start-up to maintain its identity and has for the most part let it take charge of its development and user base. While many initially questioned that $1 billion purchase, Instagram has continued to grow - and remains popular with younger users.  That said, Facebook has moved development of two other Israeli companies it acquired to the U.S. 

Waze claims that by tapping its community of users, it can provide the best real-time traffic data, road conditions data and even provide users with alerts - based on social sharing - of the cheapest gas prices and quickest routes for a group to take to a particular destination.

Facebook, which has recently adopted a "mobile first" strategy, can certainly dramatically increase the Waze user base. Its recent earnings report revealed 189 million mobile-only users and 751 million "mobile monthly active users." 

In addition to its users, Waze relies upon a community of designated "map editors" to improve its overall value, map detail and real-time routing service.  It is not known how this aspect of the service will be impacted by a Facebook acquisition. 

(See also OpenStreetMap: The Maps In Your Apps Are About To Get A Lot Better) 

According to Forbes, Waze and Facebook have signed a term sheet and a deal is expected for between $800 million - $1 billion. Apple is unlikely to counter because, according to Waze CEO Noam Bardin, it has built a mapping service that is too dependent upon its "GPS partners" and less inclined to tap the Waze community. While some Waze data has been used in Apple Maps, Apple primarily relies upon traditional mapping companies, such as TomTom, for its data. 

To date, Waze has received $67 million in VC funding. If purchased, it will likely be viewed as a major win for the budding SoLoMo (social-local-mobile) ecosystem. For more on Waze, here is a helpful video.

According to the Google Maps blog, the update will feature new English-language versions for seven Middle Eastern nations: Bahrain, Egypt, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Even more useful, especially if you're using Google Contacts instead of the iPhone's native Contacts app, is the capability to integrate that data with the Google Maps app. Logged in users will see nearby friends's addresses when they view local maps, according to Salahuddin Choudhary, Product Manager, Google Maps.

Local searches will get faster by virtue of graphical tools and icons that will get the search job done quicker.

"For faster local search, you can tap one of the new icons for restaurants, coffee shops, bars and other types of places to quickly see nearby haunts," Choudhary wrote. "So if you're in a rush and need a quick coffee, just tap the search box, then the coffee cup icon, to see the cafes closest to you."

(See also Google Maps: 10 Million Lost iPhone Users Breathe Sigh Of Relief.)

The update is a small set of tweaks to an app that was very much awaited prior to its release in December 2012 - and that is already widely considered superior to the debacle that was Apple Maps. It will be interesting to see if Apple has any major changes planned to compete with the innovation Google is still pushing out.

Images courtesy of Google.

According to a report at TechCrunch on Tuesday, the magic figure that Google will be paying Apple for the privilege could be a whopping $1 billion dollars.

That's because Google and Apple, while enemies in the mobile arena, also need each other to survive. Apple's valuable iOS users - millions and millions of eyeballs that happen to be wealthier than most - are coveted by Google, and Google's massive search data is needed by Apple for those same users. (I could also add that Apple desperately needs Google's mapping data, but that's not what this story's about, and that's just rubbing salt on the Apple Maps wound.)

Apparently, even as Google is trying to kick Apple's butt with Android, Apple gets 75 cents for every dollar Google makes on iOS from advertising and data collection. Which puts the iOS price tag somewhere around that billion-dollar mark, according to the Morgan Stanley report cited in the article.

A billion dollars in revenue is nothing to sneeze at, and on the surface it seems like Apple is being silly with this continued effort to separate itself from the ever-pervasive realm of Google's services.

What it may be thinking is simple math: if Apple can get $1 billion just as a cut of someone else's business, imagine what it could make if it had full control of that business? Thus, we have efforts like Apple Maps.

Clumsy as Apple's efforts might be, the fact that there's a lot of money to be made in the realm of mobile data and advertising means such efforts may ultimately be worth the birthing pains. With its rich and loyal user base, Apple may be the eventual winner - if it can ultimately remove Google and it's billion-dollar ad payouts as the middle man.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.

Surprisingly enough, there’s a lot of academic research into the digital versus paper maps issue. Paul Clough, Senior Lecturer in the Information School at the University of Sheffield, conducted one of these  studies and found that, aside from the fact that we still like paper versions of things (books, magazines), we trust paper maps more. Whether it’s because of technical difficulties with apps, or fear of running out of battery power, the usability and reliability of paper maps still fare better than digital. Even if you do look like a freakin' tourist if you unfold a paper map on a city street.

Apple Maps Isn't The Only Epic Fail

As you well know, last year's introduction of Apple Maps was an epic failure. Missing bridges, improperly placed landmarks, directions to places that never existed and stranded tourists topped the list of Apple Map fails. A life-endangering situation befell a group in Australia when they were following directions to what they had believed to be Mildura, a vibrant city of 30,000 people in Victoria. Instead, they ended up stranded for 24 hours in a national park in the outback wilderness - in 115-degree heat with no food or water. Turns out that Apple Maps plotted the city of Mildura 40 miles away from its actual location. 

But Apple can't be blamed for last week super-duper-epic-digital-mapping fail: The USS Guardian ran aground on a reef in the Philippine Sea. The Tubbataha Reef is an environmentally sensitive natural park, and the Guardian was navigating through the area without the clearance. When officials informed the Guardian that it had entered a restricted area, and would have to be boarded and inspected, the ship replied: “Take it to the U.S. Embassy.” And then it hit the reef and got stuck.

No one was injured and no fuel oil leaked, but the damage to the reef may be extensive. And the Navy has decided to scrap the $277 milllion ship, cutting it into three parts to remove it from the reef without further damage. Plus, the U.S. is facing huge fines and an investigation from the Philippine government. 

So what's the connection to digital maps?

A few days after the incident, the Navy revealed that the digital maps the Guardian used to navigate misplaced the reef by about eight nautical miles, a little more than 9 miles. The Navy has since advised other ships to compare electronic charts to paper ones before following directions.

Durable And Valuable 

Dr. Clough said in an email to ReadWrite that experts and professionals in certain fields, including military personnel, often value paper more than digital mapping software. His study found that while users liked digital maps for planning short and long distance travel, when it came to traveling on foot, paper was preferred due to its durability and portability. 

Not to say that digital mapping isn't more than good enough for most applications. But it may be a good idea for users to refrain from putting their complete trust and faith in any mapping app. Having a paper backup plan may be a good idea. 

Clough pointed out the irony of the common practice of printing out Google Maps as a convenient backup when navigating. He added, “ I think paper is here to stay for the foreseeable future.”

Evan Osnos in the New Yorker has a thoughtful article about what this means. 

"Maps are so closely associated with power that dictatorships regard information on geography as a state secret. When I was a student in China in the nineties, the schools where I studied included 'detailed maps' in the list of contraband, along with dissident memoirs and porn. Even recently, China has arrested foreign researchers who were seeking to acquire detailed data on the land, either for extractive industries or other purposes."

That said, Osnos points out that the North Korea map data "reminds us just how much we still can not see," and how much we still don't know about what goes on inside that country. And while the map data is interesting to us, it won't have much impact inside North Korea since hardly anybody has Internet access.

Schmidt's Visit

Google Chairman Eric Schmidt recently traveled to North Korea. A Google spokesman told the Washington Post that Schmidt's visit and the release of map data were not related. Still, it's hard to imagine Schmidt didn't at least mention to his hosts that this was about to happen. I can imagine Schmidt pointing out to his hosts that in an age of crowd-sourcing and satellites, it's really no longer possible to hide.

I can't help thinking that Google just did something significant here, and also that Sergey Brin, whose family escaped oppression in the Soviet Union and who is said to have strong feelings about the subject, maybe had something to do with it.

At the very least Google has reminded us how incredibly strange it is that even now, in 2013, an entire country can remain so walled off from the rest of the world. Those gulags are the size of cities. Who are the people living in them? What are their lives like?

This is the conversation that Google is provoking.

This is not the first time technology has been wielded as a geopolitical tool (eg drones, Stuxnet) but this time it's different, because this time the entity using technology to push for change is not a country but a company.

This is Google claiming a new role for itself. This is a tech company becoming a political actor, taking an interest in things that go beyond its product line and its bottom line, flexing its nerd muscles and daring to challenge a tyrant.

That's significant. 

Image courtesy of Google Maps.