Google Maps turns 20, adds AI features, new countries to beat Apple

Two decades ago, google co-founder Larry Page he had an idea that would forever change the way we navigate the world.

“Larry drove some of these streets with a video camera and handed it to someone and said, ‘Hey, what can you do with this?'” said Maria Biggs, program technical lead for Google Street View, a prominent feature of Google Maps. everything .

In a car equipped with the latest Street View cameras, Biggs drove close to Google’s Silicon Valley headquarters on CNBC. First introduced in 2022, it’s the first camera model that can be added to any car, rather than embedded in the vehicle itself.

“We’re going to Hawaii with these next-generation camera systems because we don’t have to ship the whole car,” Biggs said. “We can put the camera system in a box and send it there and then rent the car when we’re there.”

Biggs said the new technology will allow Google to update data from some locations for the first time in 10 years.

“We’ll be able to move these cameras around easily and have more freshness in our maps,” he said.

with more than 2 billion monthly usersGoogle Maps belongs to the world above navigation application. As Maps turns 20 in February, Google is working hard to keep it going, with the help of new cameras as well as creative artificial intelligence.

The lighter camera allows Google to make updates in dozens of countries. It is also mapping at least three new ones: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Namibia and Liechtenstein. Street View cameras are an important part of how Google Maps collects data, but it relies on satellite and aerial imagery and information from more than 1,000 third-party sources, such as local governments and users. This massive data collection system allows Google to offer maps in more than 250 countries and territories.

Gemini is also enabling voice-activated reporting on Waze, which it acquired in 2013 For $1.3 billion. This data is fed into Google Maps in both applications to warn drivers about hazards in real time.

“We hope our products help people navigate more confidently and safely,” said Chris Phillips, vice president and general manager of the Google Geo division, which leads Maps. Waze is also helping to improve road safety, he said, “because people report that certain streets have had problems in the past, and we’ve seen a noticeable change in people’s behavior when they go down those streets.”

Waze is also known for providing alternative routes.

“We’re going to give you more provocative maneuvers along the way,” Phillips said, when it comes to “gaining and moving traffic.”

But there are also alternative ways traffic has worsened in some neighborhoods, where small roads may be poorly equipped to handle many cars.

Phillips said Google only uses public roads and works with local authorities to enforce rules for specific streets.

“The use of these navigation apps, embedded or on mobile phones, is almost universal,” said James Hodgson, who covers automotive at ABI Research.

Hodgson said a problem today is that technology is user-to-user. To improve efficiency, he said, “we’re approaching a point where we have to have a broader view, almost fleet level.”

Hodgson said the “perceptual barrier” Google has faced is data privacy.

Identifying information such as faces and license plates are blurred in Google Maps, and users can do so Request blurring of an area in Street View to avoid a risk such as thieves scanning their property.

Users can also turn off location history or delete places they’ve been. Like certain places abortion clinics or domestic violence shelters they are automatically deleted. In December, Google started saving location history on devices instead of in the cloud, making it harder authorities to access location history.

How much Google spends and earns on Maps is a secret. Parent company Alphabet isn’t breaking Maps on its own earnings reports, integrating with other services such as Search and YouTube. One of the only estimates is from 2019 Morgan Stanley the report forecast Maps would grow from $2.95 billion in 2019 to $11 billion in 2023.

Revenue is largely based on a model Google knows well: advertising.

“We’re always focused on giving people results when they’re looking for a restaurant or a place that most accurately matches what they’re looking for,” Phillips said. “And marketers have the option of actually paying for advertising to get their place on that list.”

Google also makes money by selling a data-specific software interface solar companies looking for new customers. It contains highly accurate roof images, measurements, elevations and shadows for approximately 480 million buildings in 40 countries.

Google sells its access Maps Platform including companies Wayfair and dominoes. Developers have used it to build more than 10 million sites and apps for food delivery, ride-sharing and real estate. For example, in 2019, Uber he said It has paid $58 million to Google in the previous three years for cartography technology.

Google’s Android Automotive operating systemIt also makes money with Maps. It powers infotainment systems in many cars polestar, Volvo, Honda, GM and Ford.

Since Robotaxis is common, accurate mapping is critical and a big opportunity for Google.

Waymo owned by Alphabet It dominated the US robotaxis market In 2024, and Phoenix commuters can pick up one of the fully autonomous cars directly from the Google Maps app. Robotaxis also presents the potential for a virtuous cycle.

“I think one of Waymo’s ambitions, and something we see in almost every autonomous vehicle platform provider, is to try to close that loop and use the same vehicles that benefit from the map to also contribute to the creation of that map.” “said Hodgson. “That’s the future of autonomous driving mapping.”

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