http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2005/10/
google_maps_and_their_data_pro_1.html
Google Maps and Their Data Providers
By nat on October 11, 2005
Never assume it's easy to bring a free API to fruition. Check out
Google Maps as web app versus Google Maps as API. Notice something
different about the two maps? The former has "map data (c) NAVTEQ"
whereas the latter has "map data (c) TeleAtlas". In the past, both
API and consumer maps credited both companies, but it's a safe bet
that Google has had a battle with NAVTEQ to offer their free API. The
provider changed occurred around October 4 and prompted a discussion
on the developer list about the greater number of errors in the
TeleAtlas tiles (e.g., "In Tele Atlas you don't get the Statue of
Liberty. In Navteq you don't get the bridge that goes to Ellis
Island", " it labels "Holy Ghost" Hospital in Cambridge which changed
its name in 1988 to Youville Hospital").
For comparison sake, Yahoo! have only NAVTEQ on the consumer and API
maps, although "API" is perhaps too strong a word for the current
Yahoo! offering. MSN Virtual Earth have NAVTEQ on the front end and
their back end APIs, though their back end is strongly coupled to
their MapPoint Web Services product which is commercial. The absence
of a commercial offering from Google might be the sticking point--
they're all about the free.
The problem is that NAVTEQ spends a lot of money to get the most
accurate data on the streets and roads, and they make most of their
money selling routing (directions) through in-car navigation systems.
I bet NAVTEQ wish they had a dollar for every time a prospective
customer came to them expecting Google Maps-style driving directions
to be free. Oh wait, they do. Every set of driving directions you get
from Google Maps (or Yahoo! Maps, or MapQuest) represents real money
in the pocket of NAVTEQ--they charge per route. Google, Yahoo!,
MapQuest, and others are all eating those charges when they offer the
service to you for free, planning to make it back on advertising and
related travel services.
It would appear (and I'm reading this from the outside, as neither
Google nor NAVTEQ can talk about their negotiations with each other)
that NAVTEQ doesn't mind the traditional model of portals paying to
offer consumers driving directions. What they're not comfortable with
is offering free API calls. The biggest threat to a data business is
free access to the data, at least that's how NAVTEQ must see it. A
free API like the Google API lowers the perceived value of the data.
What's interesting is that TeleAtlas appear to be comfortable with
that model. In the US, NAVTEQ is the big company, TeleAtlas the
upcoming challenger. Those of you familiar with The Innovator's
Dilemma will know that it's hard for incumbents to innovate outside
their existing product line. In particular, they can't turn their
cash cow into steaks. If you're fighting for business, though, you
don't have the burden of an existing business model to protect.
The trend is towards the commoditization of geographic information
and services. Maps are already perceived as free because they're
available for free as applications and services. Geocoding is edging
toward freedom, with routing hot on its heels. I'd love to be a fly
on the wall at the Google, Yahoo!, MapQuest, Microsoft, et al.
negotiations with their data providers to hear the conversations
around those services.
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