Dark Enough to See the Stars

While ‘user generated’ videos are getting all the buzz today— keep your eye on the digital map-making community and the growth around geolocation services. Someday soon (1-3 years) ‘map-making’ might be the next big thing!

In recent months the NY Times and Wall Street Journal have been running articles about the growing relevance of map-based information as software, marketing and media companies become more interested in the highly targeted world of the ‘local search‘. Some believe that the surprise ‘killer app’ of the Apple iPhone (and other future mobile devices) is not the camera, or the music - but the map-making software (i.e. Google Maps).

Understanding the Age of the Map-maker - Identity Management and Openness

One of the great novelties of our first era of web experiences was the realization that ‘place doesn’t matter’ - we can work from anywhere as long as we have a web connection. In the next era of web services - ‘place matters’. Our location, along with our ability to ‘deposit and extract’ information about the physical world around us, could become a foundation for new economic growth. (Click to continue)

The scope of location based services is enormous - from the obvious applications around transportation/logistics, emergency services, and advertising; but the most interesting services could come from social applications that are being developed by amateurs, mash up hackers and small start ups. ‘Mashed up’ maps that show local prices of gasoline, running routes, retail shopping locations, wifi cafe locations, favorite restaurants, walking tours, tourism services, etc. (Far from being trivial applications — Each one of these services takes away a degree of uncertainty in our decision making process as we move physically through the world. And it creates a space for users to add/challenge information that could change the economic behavior of others…)

There are dozens of start ups involved in mobile social networks, mobile blogging, and other peer driven services based on location. But software incumbents are not too far behind and will likely acquire or grow to dominate the local search space. What is certain is that the number of map-making software tools will continue to grow… and its success will be based largely on how open the systems are to allow users to provide input to the maps themselves. (i.e. geotagging, moblogging) Just as tools for creating word document, presentations, videos, websites, booking travel arrangements, et al have all become virtually free and easy to use- so will tools for 3D map-making. And someday soon we’ll look in the mirror - and say ‘I love my map…’ - or I want to buy this cell phone b/c of the map software interface.

Last month Google launched its ‘My Maps’ services and has been pushing its K(X)ML (named after KeyHole - a map company acquisition that led to the current Google Earth product) And Microsoft has been quietly developing its user-friendly features on Virtual Earth and local street level search technology hoping to catch Google’s AdSense in the coming era of ‘local search’. Great preview: http://preview.local.live.com/

The central issue of this age of location based services is identity management. It is one thing to speak of the ‘economics of trust’ and identity management while surfing from our desktops - it is another to expect our identities to be managed as we walk through city streets and drive along highways.

Of course the whole of idea of ‘exposing’ our identities in public places scares most people. (Just as it felt strange to input our credit card number over the ‘internet’.) But soon enough we will likely see the benefits of ‘managing’ (not exposing) our identities based on location - and we might look back in a decade and wonder how we survived before the age of geolocation services. [My thinking is that the key to location specific identity management will be based on evolving social networks and peer aggregation that lets us associate ourselves as part of multiple groups rather than as an individual. It could serve as a layer that protects our individual identities…]

Today it might seem invasive (definitely ‘big brother’) to reveal our location- but in a decade it might seem comforting and secure to know our location and the location of our loved ones. Younger users are already getting on board… Disney’s Family Locator and Verizon’s Chaperone services let parents know the exact location of their children (or at least the cell phone). So the next generation of mobile device users will likely take ‘location’ for granted - and feel much more comfortable managing their identities.

Imagine walking around a new city or neighborhood and being able to search for new places using highly realistic maps that appear on your mobile device; now imaging leaving your own review at a local restaurant and sharing it with strangers who might want inside knowledge. Imagine being able to find your friends in a park or neighborhood; or using your cell phone as a safety beacon device as you walk down a dark street in the middle of the night.

Geolocation services (like todays’ web) take out another layer of ‘friction’ in our economic transactions. They increase the level of certainty to transactions - and this will be exploited by companies and individuals who see value in location based information. Deliveries of most physical objects will be tracked, monitored and analyzed - and maps will be our new medium of visualization. Consider how much easier it will be to ride public transportation if you knew exactly when/where the bus/train would pick up.

I know that ‘map making’ might not seem important or relevant today. Why would I need my own ‘map’? But think back to 1994 when an ‘email’ address was useless and unnecessary; or when the notion of surfing a ‘website’ seemed utterly strange. We are still waiting for all the pieces to come together. Software seems right on track… and the real pieces will be hardware - mobile devices with incredible screens and enough power to handle advanced applications. (Hint- OLEDs, micro fuel cells and touch interfaces!). Keep your eye on mobile phone companies -like Nokia (new GPS service) Samsung, LG and Motorola. Location based services on their devices will be a huge growth area. Much more so than cameras or flash memory for music… In the next generation of web services- place matters…