An interesting look at Google Maps via the Conversation and how Google Maps is evolving and transforming the map
How – and why – Google is transforming the map (Credit: The Conversation)
this from The Conversation…
While OSM is about mapping the world around us, Google Maps takes it a step further: ultimately, Google Maps is about mapping lives and merging the physical and the virtual. The application collects information about us: the physical pathways that we follow – either on foot or in a car – and the digital traces we leave behind: photographs we’ve snapped, purchases we’ve made, and activities we’ve participated in.
This information can then be used to understand how we function in this newly emerging hybrid universe.
In that sense, Google is mapping places rather than simply mapping spaces. Loosely defined in the context of this article, the idea of place is the meaning, or significance, that certain locations hold for us. This could mean our home neighborhood, or a dangerous part of the city where we rarely venture; it could refer to our favorite nightlife hotspots, or where we buy our groceries.
…while we know how Google does it, another question has emerged: why is Google devoting so many resources to “paint the world…one pixel to the inch”