Google Maps is about to get a lot smarter. The company unveiled the next iteration of its beloved geographic exploration apps at Google I/O this afternoon, sporting a visual overhaul and lots of new features. 

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

According to a report from Bloomberg this morning, Facebook may be close to acquiring Waze, whose navigation app relies on alerts from users to deliver real-time traffic data. The deal is rumored to be 50% in cash and 50% Facebook stock. Waze, available for iPhone and Android, has been considered a likely acquisition target by Apple and possibly Google.

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.

On Tuesday, OpenStreetMap significantly lowered the barrier to creating fully share-able map data. With the launch of a new editor for the open source mapping platform, its freely available mapping data will be improved upon even faster, leading to more accurate and detailed mapping information in the many apps and services that reply on it.

Starting today, anyone who wants to update OpenStreetMap can use iD Editor as one of their tool choices, alongside the existing Potlatch 2 in-browser editor. Both editors are capable tools, but the new iD Editor is much more beginner-friendly. It was always possible to edit OpenStreetMap, but iD Editor's simplicity makes the task simple enough for just about anyone to do it - with very little training.

This is big news for certified map-heads like me, but it will important effects even for users of Google Maps and Apple Maps who have never heard of OpenStreetMap. That's because "the free wiki world map," as OpenStreetMap describes itself, is relied upon by a wide array of well-known apps and services.

Who's Asking For Directions?

"OpenStreetMap's data is used in Hipmunk for mapping hotels, and in Foursquare to map bars," explained MapBox CEO Eric Gundersen. "It's used in Evernote, too." In fact, Gundersen, added, there are more than 35,000 subscribers to OpenStreetMap data through MapBox alone, including USA Today. Apple's own iPhoto app also uses OpenStreetMap data - not Apple Map data.

The business of maps is major - according to Charlie Hale, a Google Policy analyst for Oxera, consumers have placed a $37 billion value on mapping services in the U.S. Globally, that number could be as high as $270 billion. It is little wonder then, that players like Google, Apple and Nokia (through its acquisition of Navteq) are jockeying for position, trying to be the preferred source for potential subscribers of mapping data.

No More Monkeys

OpenStreetMap's openness gives it a big advantage in this race. Yes, Gundersen admitted, "there will be the same kind of data flaws in open data as in proprietary data, but in the open data, you can fix them."

As an example, Gundersen pointed out the iOS map rendition of Kabul, Afghanistan, where a road that leads southwest out of the city's center is prominently labeled as "Bad Monkey."

Chehilsoton Main Road, still known as "Bad Monkey."

The map's flaw was discovered and made the rounds in the tech media way back in January of 2013. And yet, as of Tuesday, that error had still not been corrected on Apple's iOS maps. The Chehilsoton Main Road remains unnamed thanks to someone's poor idea of a joke.

Such errors could also crop up in OpenStreetMap, (like any vandalism you might see on open and wiki-based knowledge platforms), but it can be immediately repaired.

Fix It Yourself

In addition to more accurate maps overall, and mapping data available to everyone to use as they see fit, the ability for anyone to easily edit OpenStreetMap could also be a boon for businesses. If one of the major mapping services screws up the location for your business, for example, you have to wait for them to fix it, however long that might take. With OpenStreetMap and iD Editor, you could fix it yourself, right away.

Open source mapping was always a good idea. By making it easy for anyone to edit the maps, OpenStreetMap is making it even more useful.

Images via OpenStreetMap, Apple.

iPhone users, take note: Google is releasing a new update for Google Maps for iPhone that promises faster local searches and a cleaner interface to help find the places you want to be. It should only extend Google's lead over Apple's own troubled iPhone maps app. 

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.

How much would you pay to be the default search engine in the iOS mobile operating system?

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.

With the rise of smartphones, millions of people have tossed away their paper maps, instead relying on GPS and mapping apps on our phones to find a restaurant or plan a road trip. But is that really a good thing?

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.”

Everyone knows the first version of Apple's iOS map application was a piece of work, but life-threatening?

Lots of people are upset with Apple for replacing Google's all-but-bulletproof mapping app with its own, disastrous Maps application back in September. Locations are mislabeled, directions are absurd, towns are shown where no town has existed. It has been frustrating for many people, but few using iOS Maps have said it is really life threatening.

Screen grab from Victoria police Until now.

Police in Victoria, Australia, have fielded several distress calls from motorists following Maps only to become lost in Murray Sunset National Park. The park is located in southeastern Australia where can temperatures can reach 114 degrees (46 degrees Celsius). 

Motorists using Maps to get Mildura, Australia, located on the northeast border of the park. Their iPhones and iPads instead placed Mildura in the middle of Murray Sunset, miles from anything. Police say motorists insufficiently prepared to survive being lost in the sprawling park could find themselves in very real danger. 

In a statement, the Victoria police department said travelers should rely on other maps until the problem is fixed. Department officials said they've contacted Apple with their concerns. 

This is not the first time that a government has been upset with Maps. Irish officials were perplexed when the app moved Dublin Airport -- a major facility -- to a rural estate named "Airfield." They called it “dangerously misleading.” That gaffe was fixed (but political hystrionics aside, it is extremely rare for pilots anywhere to use a smartphone for navigation). 

Screen grab from Victoria police. Notations by the auhor.

Top photo courtesy Shutterstock.