Google Drops Tele Atlas As Provider of U.S. Maps, Company Now Creating Their Own Maps with the Help of Crowdsourcing
Greg Sterling at Search Engine Land does a great job discussing the big news that Google's primary map provider, TeleAtlas, has been dropped and the company is now using their own maps that were created (and will be maintained) using crowdsourcing and other sources (e.g. U.S. Census data) along with StreetView data.
We're wondering if other data sources like Sandborn Maps will continue to be used by Google.
Tele Atlas will continue to provide maps to Google for many other countries.
On the Directions Magazine web site, Michael Jones from Google, list and discusses the large number of Google tools and services that have a geographic component.
He Writes:
I've been saying in keynote talks for years that users are the local experts and that a rich and accurate map of the world must therefore reflect user's knowledge.
He Adds:
I know that users are now better served with an easily correctable, rapidly updatable, widely usable base-map built from the synthesis of hundreds of data feeds, hundreds of thousands of individual contributors, and potentially, hundreds of millions of local-expert users.
Jones continues and briefly explains how Google got the U.S. maps project started.
UPDATE (10/13):Map/GIS data experts, Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg, from Directions Magazine have recorded an excellent podcast that discusses the changes with Google Maps in the United States. Below the podcast box, you'll also find links to several articles. Several point out that parcel data (we don't know the provider) is now available via Google Maps for several locations in the U.S. Be careful using the parcel data. As of today (this could change at any time), it isn't as robust as what you find with databases that specialize in this type of data. For example, you can't click on a parcel and find out the owner of the property and it's impossible to determine how current it is.
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