| Of all the cool Google features, I find Google Maps the absolute coolest. Not only does Google Maps compete head-to-head with other online mapping sites, such as MapQuest and Yahoo! Maps, but it offers a raft of unique and, dare I say, fun features. It'll help you get to where you want to go, and show you a lot of neat and useful information on the way there. Google Maps (maps.google.com) offers a ton of useful mapping services, all packed into an easy-to-use interface. Yes, you can generate maps for any given address or location, but you can also click and drag the maps to view adjacent sections, overlay the map info on satellite images of the given area, display nearby businesses as a series of pushpins on the map, and have Google Local plot driving directions to and from this location to any other location. And all this map and direction stuff is done from the familiar Google search box. Unlike other map sites, there are no forms to fill out; just enter what you want to see into the search box, and let Google Maps do the rest. Commentary: From Maps to Local and Back Again Here's something interesting. The Google Maps you know and love wasn't always called Google Maps. Oh, that was its original name, but for about six months in 20052006, Google changed the name to Google Local. It doesn't matter that Google Local was previously the name of another Google service that housed a database of local merchants; Google rolled the two services together and gave the whole thing the name Google Local. Why was this? In October 2005, the Taiwanese government protested against its listing in Google Maps. Google Maps had displayed the label "Taiwan, Province of China," which offended the Taiwanese, who view themselves as a sovereign nation. The People's Republic of China, however, views Taiwan as a renegade province. By labeling Taiwan as a province of China on its maps (which, by the way, is the same way the United Nations refers to Taiwan), Google inadvertently created an international incident. Google's solution was uniquely creative. It accelerated the merger of the technologies behind Google Maps and Google Local, renamed the whole thing Google Local, and changed the label for Taiwan to remove the "Province of China" text. Google could claim to Taiwan that it had bowed to their concerns (by changing the map), while at the same time saying to China that it didn't actually change the map, it launched a completely new service. Like I said, a creative solution. The problem with this solution, of course, is that Google's users continued to refer to the service as Google Maps. It didn't matter that the Google Local logo was at the top of the page, it was "Google Maps" as far as most users were concerned. So, in May 2006, Google relented and rechristened the site Google Mapsthe name it should have kept all along. |
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