The Internet revolutionized many industries when consumer and business-to-business applications came online. How many of us go online for airline tickets, hotels, rental cars and destination information? Just as the Internet radically changed the travel industry by offering real value to customers who could arrange their own travel quickly and easily, many new and exciting applications are making their way online. 
 

Mapping for the Masses
Some would argue we have been using Internet mapping in the industry for years, but it’s still a small niche set of users. With mammoth companies like Microsoft, Google and Yahoo pouring millions of dollars into online mapping applications and data, the industry will shift dramatically. Many existing consumers of maps and geospatial data will continue to have the same needs and expectations, but many new consumers will have a major impact on how the data are created, delivered and used.
 

Google, Yahoo and Microsoft are platform players in this space. Their models differ, but essentially the end business or consumer applications will be built by other companies and will leverage the platforms and data that the big three supply. However, to be successful these companies will need to acquire and maintain massive datasets. Historically, companies like TeleAtlas and NavTeq have created a business around building and maintaining vector and attribute data, though never before have so many companies sought to aggregate imagery like they are now. Let’s take a look at why the availability of imagery is shifting the market.
 

Mainstream Commercialism
One of the most striking applications of geospatial data beyond the traditional market was the introduction of a new advertising campaign by Mazda for a new line of SUVs. The Mazda CX-7 EarthSearch Sweepstakes Game employs Google Earth and KML, the standard Google uses for adding layer data to Google Earth, to lure the public into searching for the new SUV.  The contest leverages a Web page built into Google Earth to present a video clue to players about the SUV’s location. The players must figure out the clue and where the SUV is in the world.  Then they search for it using all of the tools provided for geographic searches within Google Earth.

In the example above, the clue is a photo of the Golden Gate Bridge. Players navigate to the landmark and find the clue, which enters them into the contest to win the Mazda CX-7. The reason this application is so intriguing is that it truly opens the world of geospatial imagery to the consumer masses.  By offering new clues every few weeks and weekly prizes, Mazda gets a lot of eyes on its new product offering, and people regularly get to feel the power of geospatial imagery. If geospatial tools have become easy enough to support a mainstream advertising campaign, then the use of these tools is bound to explode.
 

Another mainstream application, if it can be called that, is a game built on Google Earth called GeWar. The game is similar to the old board game “Risk,” with some twists due to Google Earth’s interactive nature. The players sign up and need to find “Jewels” to fund their armies. Similar to the Mazda search, users receive a clue and must find and collect the jewel.  Players can also plant cotton fields and mine for diamonds to get funds for building armies. Finally, players build their armies and take over cities from other players. The game is interactive with the Google Earth software and with other players, all on Google Earth’s 3-D surface. Youngsters playing this game learn the value of geospatial relevance in a fun, easy way, and they will carry this knowledge with them into the business world.  
 

Application Innovations
One application that made a big splash in the market was Zillow.com. Zillow is a site that provides consumers with a look at property values in any given area in the United States. The same people who founded Expedia and raised $32 million in venture capital started the company. Zillow offers vertical as well as oblique photography and is powered by Microsoft Virtual Earth. The site is valuable because it provides more than a map or pictureóit integrates the maps, photography, and public databases to provide practical and useful tools. Using Zillow, a prospective homeowner can see the estimated value for a given home, how it ranks against other properties in the area, and details such as square footage, etc.  

This is a good example of the type of consumer application that will drive the need for high-quality imagery to be kept constantly fresh. The data have to be current to have value, and that’s where the major shift in the remote sensing industry will occur. The demand for fresh, high-quality, inexpensive imagery will grow substantially.
 

Another innovative application provides 3-D visualization based on Google Earth: "Envision Jonah", a project created by the Timoney Group. This tool provides analysis and visualization of one of the richest natural gas fields in the United States. Through KML, the Envision Jonah tools let users see all of the well spots, click to view the Wyoming Oil and Gas Commission lease records, and even view surface geology. What really takes this application a step beyond is its use of Google Earth’s 3-D visualization capability to display gas production and water recovery by grid cell. This is valuable information for the Oil and Gas Commission, especially given the controversial nature of water recovery to Wyoming ranchers. The value in this application is its ability to provide analysis in a way that business people can easily use and understand without the need to be a geospatial professional.

John L Scott Real Estate developed another interesting real estate application. The company already had an advanced Web site for searching property listings, but adding Microsoft Virtual Earth has made it a truly immersive way to shop for a home. A prospective buyer can start with a roadmap or an aerial image and zoom in to areas of interest. As the zoom scale is narrowed down, property listings begin to appear as symbols on the image, along with a tabular list of available properties. What makes the site so useful are the flyouts that appear when the mouse cursor is placed over a property. The user gets to see a photo and a synopsis of the property. Also, as the mouse is passed over the listings in the tabular pane, the flyouts appear on the map so it's easy to visualize where the property is. The company also employs oblique imagery via Virtual Earth for a final look at the property. For a real estate agent and a home seeker, this is a powerful combination of information that saves time and money for both agent and homebuyer. By the time a buyer actually visits a home, they will feel as though they've already been there.

Prudential Preferred Properties in Chicago also has a nice implementation for the real estate searcher, with an application built in Google Earth. There is a version on Google Maps, but the Google Earth version is far more interactive. Listings are updated every three hours, a nice capability in Google Earth. Listings appear in a layers panel, and a double click on any listing will fly the user to that site. He or she will get a flyout of the listing with details and a photo (street level, not integrated). If the user clicks for more information, the built-in Web page at the bottom of the application will provide all the property details while the imagery or map remains visible in the panel above. Although the site doesn't have oblique imagery, the Web page offers virtual tours for the prospective buyer.

There are myriad other applications possible. Unfortunately, some of the business-to-business applications are difficult to show because they are proprietary to the business customer and often add a competitive edge. For instance, an insurance company is using these same tool sets to increase the accuracy of its risk analysis by as much as 30 percent. 
 

The "Cool" Factor
Google Earth and Microsoft Live Local on their own have created a "cool factor" for consumers. It remains to be seen just how long the cool factor will last with a notoriously mercurial public. However, both companies provide powerful tools in the form of application programming interfaces for businesses to leverage their resources.

The vast marketing power behind Microsoft and Google is educating the public about the value of geospatial information. At the same time it is reshaping the traditional providers of this information. No longer is simply providing data layers going to be enough to maintain a viable business, because Microsoft and Google will be providing the basic layers. The real competition will be in aggregating data for analysis and visualization, finding the profit centers or consumers that will actually pay for the information, and providing real value that can’t be obtained elsewhere.
 

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