Twenty years ago, Google Co-founder Larry Page There’s an idea that will forever change the way we explore the world.

“Larry drove down some of these streets with a camera and handed it to someone and said, ‘Hey,'” said Maria Biggs, technical program manager for Google Street View, a key feature of Google Maps. , what can you do with this?'”.

Biggs spoke to CNBC on a tour near Google’s Silicon Valley headquarters in a car equipped with the latest Street View cameras. First launched in 2022, it is the first camera model that can be added to any car rather than built into the vehicle.

“We’re going to Hawaii with these next-generation camera systems because we don’t have to ship the entire vehicle,” Biggs said. “We can put the camera system in a box and ship it there and then rent a car when we get there.”

Biggs said the new technology will allow Google to update data in some places for the first time in a decade.

“We’ll be able to easily move these cameras around and make our maps fresher,” she said.

Have more than 2 billion monthly usersGoogle Maps is the world top Navigation application. Maps is approaching its 20th anniversary in February, and Google is working to stay ahead of the curve with new cameras and generative artificial intelligence.

A more flexible camera allows Google to roll out updates to dozens of countries. It also produced at least three new maps – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Namibia and Liechtenstein. Street View cameras are an important part of how Google collects mapping data, but it also relies on satellite and aerial imagery, as well as information from more than 1,000 third-party sources, including local governments and users. This massive data collection system enables Google to provide maps for more than 250 countries and territories.

Gemini also enables voice-activated reporting in Waze, which Google acquired in 2013 US$1.3 billion. This data is fed into Google Maps to help alert drivers about hazards in real time on both apps.

“We hope our products will help people navigate more confidently and safely,” said Chris Phillips, vice president and general manager of Google Geo, which operates maps. Waze also helps improve road safety by “letting people know that a certain street has had problems in the past and we’ve seen noticeable changes in the behavior of people driving on those streets,” he said.

Waze is also known for offering alternative routes.

“We’ll be giving you some more aggressive maneuvers along the way to help you avoid traffic,” Phillips said.

But there are alternative routes traffic conditions worsen In some communities, small roads may not accommodate many vehicles.

Phillips said Google only uses public roads and works with local authorities to adhere to the rules for specific streets.

“The use of these navigation apps, whether embedded or on smartphone devices, is almost universal,” said James Hodgson, automotive at ABI Research.

Hodgson said one problem currently is that the technology is specific to each user. To be more efficient, he said, “We’re approaching a point where we need to have a broader, almost fleet-level view.”

Hodgson said a major “cognitive hurdle” facing Google is data privacy.

Recognition information such as faces and license plates will be blurred on Google Maps. Users can Request that an area in Street View be blurred to prevent risks such as thieves from analyzing their property.

Users can also turn off location history or delete places they have visited. Some places such as Abortion clinic or domestic violence shelter is automatically deleted. In December, Google starts saving location history on devices Instead of in the cloud, make it more difficult Have access to location history.

Google’s spending and revenue on Maps has been kept secret. Parent company Alphabet has not introduced mapping as part of its business Earnings report, grouping it with other services like search and YouTube. One of the only estimates comes from 2019 Morgan Stanley The report predicts that map revenue will increase from $2.95 billion in 2019 to $11 billion in 2023.

Revenue is primarily built on a model Google knows well: advertising.

“When people are looking for a restaurant or a place, we’re always focused on providing them with results that most accurately match what they’re looking for,” Phillips said. “Merchants have the opportunity to actually pay for advertising to have their location appear on that list.”

Google also makes money by selling users software interfaces with detailed data. Solar companies look for new customers. It has high-precision roof images, measurements, elevations and shadows of approximately 480 million buildings in 40 countries.

Google sells access to it Map platform Included for the company wayfel and dominoes. Developers have used it to build more than 10 million websites and apps in areas such as food delivery, ride-sharing, and real estate. For example, in 2019, Uber Said it Pay $58 million to Google Recognizing surveying and mapping technology over the past three years.

Google’s Android car operating systemWith maps, you can also make money. It powers many cars’ infotainment systems polar star, Volvo, Honda, General Motors and Ford.

As robo-taxis become mainstream, accurate mapping will be critical and a huge opportunity for Google.

Alphabet’s Waymo Dominating the U.S. robotaxi market By 2024, passengers in Phoenix will be able to hail a fully self-driving car directly from the Google Maps app. Robotaxis also have the potential for a virtuous cycle.

“I think Waymo’s ambition, and what we’ve seen from almost every other self-driving vehicle platform provider, is to try to close the loop and contribute to the creation of the map using the same vehicles that benefit from the map,” Hodgson said. “This is the future of self-driving mapping.”

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