[Web4lib] FW: [DDN] Google points way to Maps' code (fwd)

[K.G. Schneider]

Fyi--interesting.

Karen G. Schneider

-----Original Message-----
From: digitaldivide-bounces at milhouse.edc.org
[mailto:digitaldivide-bounces at milhouse.edc.org] On Behalf Of Andy Carvin
Sent: Thursday, June 30, 2005 9:11 AM
To: digitaldivide at milhouse.edc.org
Subject: [DDN] Google points way to Maps' code (fwd)

Also from the Boston Globe; I'd love to hear what list members think about
this impacting community informatics.... -ac


Google points way to Maps' code

Move OK's sites' use of feature to create their own services

When the online information search giant launched a feature in February
letting Web surfers pull up maps and satellite images of virtually any
neighborhood in America, hackers quickly found the Google service made it
possible to present data in cartographic format. Unlike existing services
from Time Warner Inc.'s MapQuest.com and Yahoo Inc. that are limited to
presenting information authorized by the portal -- like locations of pizza
shops or bank machines -- Google Maps let people plug in their own data.
Computer-savvy info-lovers quickly rolled out what became dubbed ''Google
mash-ups," using lists of apartments for rent and gas prices to create
services that let Web users instantly generate maps of the closest cheap gas
or pricey apartments. Other examples produced tools for mapping the
locations of Florida registered sex offenders or types of crimes in Chicago
neighborhoods.

As of early yesterday morning, Google went from more or less tolerating
these services to actively promoting them. Hoping to unleash a wave of
digital mapmaking creativity -- and down the road, some lucrative new
advertising opportunities as well -- Google last night began publicizing the
full version of the so-called application program interface for Google Maps
that hackers had already begun sussing out to build their own services. It's
a move roughly equivalent to opening up a car hood so tinkerers can see how
the engine works, or handing out the recipe for a popular dish.

http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2005/06/30/google_points_way_t
o_maps_code/

-- 
-----------------------------------
Andy Carvin
Program Director
EDC Center for Media & Community
acarvin @ edc . org
http://www.digitaldivide.net
http://www.tsunami-info.org
Blog: http://www.andycarvin.com
-----------------------------------


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