Helena Schwenk
Where do you draw the line with Google Maps?
One of the biggest catalysts for driving the use and adoption of online mapping services in both the consumer and enterprise domains has been the availability of the Google Maps. While the low cost of using the mapping service provides high appeal for organisations - and is placing increasing pricing pressure on commercial providers - users and/or developers considering its use within web mapping applications do need to be aware of its functional limitations and the terms of its use before deciding on how to meet their geographic information needs.A popular tool, but has its limits
There are a number of factors governing the popularity of Google Maps. Its rich interactive nature, coupled with the relative ease with which users can overlay information or embed maps using the Google API, have made Google Maps a fashionable and useful way of adding a location component to mashups and enterprise websites. Likewise, the relatively low cost of using Google Maps (the service is available for free) compared to the more costly option of having to license data from a government body, such as Ordnance Survey (the national mapping agency for the UK), is one of the main reasons why many companies are turning to Google Maps to give their data and applications a geographic perspective. However, while Google Maps is a widely adopted and comprehensive mapping and satellite imagery tool, there are certain limits around functionality and the terms of its use which make it less suitable for mapping applications requiring more precise and detailed geographical reference data for activities such as building planning, the provision of private and public services, and fleet management. This is where specialist mapping data companies, such as Ordnance Survey, Bartholomew (makers of the London A-Z) and Navteq (a provider of digital map data) have a role to play.Scale, accuracy, precision and licensing are all factors to consider
We believe developers and/or users must therefore take into account three key points when considering the use of Google Maps in any web mapping application:- Map scale - Google Maps does not provide a clear reference scale on its maps by which to judge distance and ground size - although it does provide zoom in and out capabilities.
- Map precision and accuracy - Google Maps do not contain the level of precision and accuracy that specialist mapping services provide. A commonly cited criticism of Google Maps is that its street maps do not match up precisely with the corresponding satellite images, and that some of the images used within its maps can be outdated. While Google does source some of its mapping data from third parties, the level of detail, scale and quality provided by mapping specialists such as UK Ordnance Survey, Bartholomew and Navteq is significantly higher to warrant their use for more specific and rigid mapping requirements. For that reason, Google Maps is therefore not typically used for activities that require precision coordinates such as house or shopping mall building, pipe laying by utilities and communication companies, or government projects such as road, school or hospital building work.
- Licensing restrictions - although the Google Maps API was designed as a free service, it does come with some restrictions over the terms of its use. Business users, for example, cannot charge for use of a service that includes Google Maps. Likewise the terms of use prohibit Google Maps from operating behind a firewall except during the application development and testing phase. The company also reserves the right to include advertising and its logo in map images used by third parties. To overcome some of these restrictions, Google Maps for Enterprise uses a different set of licensing terms for customers that want to use the API in applications that are internal and not publicly accessible. It also includes service-level agreements, support and complete control over the user interface; however, it is only available in the US and Canada.
