Research On Google Maps: History, Characteristics, Advantages And Disadvantages

Introduction

In this research paper, Google will be discussed in general but will move on to details about Google maps. Google is one of the biggest and most dominant technology company in the world. It offers free information and searches for billions of users every day, if not every minute. Google is also the most popular search engine. It organizes the information for the whole world and makes it easily accessible. Information in Google search engine are growing rapidly. Google is using a new machine-learning, artificial intelligence system called Rank Brain to improve results. Google includes a lot of useful services like: Google Scholar, Google Chrome, Gmail, Google Translate, Google Drive, etc. Nowadays, it became an essential part of our daily life. It is used for many purposes such as business communication and education. In this research paper, Definition, history and evolution, characteristics, advantages and disadvantages of Google maps is included.

Definition of Google and Google maps

The purpose of this study is to determine an application of Google, Google maps. Google maps is a web mapping and navigation application that provides many information about geographical regions. It can be used on desktop computers and smart phones. It offers many services such as: street maps, nearest less traffic and less crowded roads, satellite views, alternative and faster routes, etc. It helps the user to avoid traffic jams and get quick access to his destinations. It is more than just a map actually. It is an art project where you can visit many places by sitting in your home.

History and Evolution of Google

The following is the history of Google and its evolution over the years. In 1995, Google’s story began at Stanford university. It started with two computer science doctoral students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Their success story stems from friendship and mutual respect for each other. They were looking for a thesis topic and the page was taught among other things exploring the mathematical characteristics of the global network and understanding the link structure as a huge graph. Larry and Sergey’s proactive marketing initiatives such as licensing agreements with academic institutions and business corporations expanded their popularity.

Google started as a normal search engine and little by little, it evolved until it became a network to get many information and services. Google stopped being just a search engine many years ago, and is now involved in an increasing number of ventures from mobile phones to cloud computing to consumer services. It is the world's most dominant search engine, indexes many of pages and is searched billions of times every second.

In this study about Google maps, it began as a desktop program designed by two Danish brothers, Lars and Jens Eilstrup Rasmussen, at the Sydney-based company Where two Technologies. In October 2004, the company was acquired by Google, which was converted it into a web application. After additional acquisitions of a geospatial data visualization, there was a location related software development. Google Maps was launched in June 2005.

In October 2017, Google Maps was updated with accessible imagery of several moons and planets such as Titan, Mercury, and Venus, as well as direct access to imagery of the Moon and Mars. In August 2018, the desktop version of Google Maps was updated to show a 3D globe.

Characteristics of Google maps

Google maps expanded its street view to include imagery, including from within nature reserves. The mobile maps application now supports downloading geographical areas so that navigation and maps can be used even without a cell signal or Wi-Fi. The offline version of maps supports turn- by- turn navigation along with local information about businesses and destinations, sometimes including hours, contact information, and reviews.

Google maps is an application which many people would be lost without it. It is easy to use with many features on both mobile and desktop. First characteristic that you can find in it is time travel. The user can consider how places have changed over the years. Second is adding stops to your journey. It can direct you from one location to another so you can add multiple stops to your journey. Third characteristic is the Explore feature. The users easily find great places to hang out by tapping explore bottom. It includes ratings and descriptions. Forth is sharing the places. Users also can share locations to meet friends and family. Fifth is a feature called “remember where you parked”. Google maps can save where you parked your car to help you save time when you want to find your car.

Advantages of Google maps

Google Maps provides the sample of roads, the locations of towns and cities, countries limits, restaurant reviews, satellite images and geographical shapes. It also provides the street view sight, allowing users to see buildings, storefronts with its working hours. In addition, Google Maps has indoor maps of some airports, museums and other facilities. The user can also share location with family and friends, which makes gatherings easier to plan and coordinate. Google maps offers multiple transportation modes that gives directions for trips by car, bike, foot or public transportation. The service has local bus and train schedules for many cities including bus and stop numbers and transfer points. For longer trips, Google provides airline information including tickets prices and carriers that serve your destination.

Disadvantages of Google maps

Information in Google maps may have faults. Occasionally, ambiguities and flaws in location data may produce a route that doesn't take you to the destination you expect. Google maps does not have Up-to-date information on unusual conditions, such as roads damaged by weather, blocked by street fairs or altered by recent construction work. Some of remote locations may not be in Google maps. Other than that, it can be used by criminals. The convenience afforded by Google maps is not lost on thieves. Street view images can spot belongings momentarily exposed through windows or open doors. Burglars use Street view and satellite images to find affluent neighborhoods or homes that are easy to break into, or to identify parked cars that might contain expensive possessions. Some of people using web-based mapping applications to select possible targets for terrorist attacks.

Competitors of Google maps

Without a doubt, each success a company has is followed by a competitor. There are plenty of rival mapping apps but Google maps is the undisputed number one. It has many competitors such as:

1. Apple Maps, which is Apple's map service to replace the Google maps application on iOS devices like smart phones and laptops.
2. Yahoo! Maps. It is by yahoo company that competes Google company.
3. Bing Maps, and it is a web mapping service provided as a part of Microsoft’s Bing suite of search engine.
4. 4. Here Maps, which is a map service developed by Nokia company.
5. Map box. It is an online service to build custom maps.
6. Maps of Switzerland. It is a Swiss service offers rich maps and layers of Switzerland.
7. Near map, and it is an Australian specific aerial photography.
8. Open Street Map. It is a royalty free, editable map of the world.
9. TomTom Maps, which is a map service built on top of Tele Atlas that based in Netherlands.
10. Yandex Maps, and it is a Russian web mapping service developed by Yandex. The service provides detailed maps of the whole world. In spite of having a lot of competitors, Google maps is still the most popular and famous accurate application in the world.

Conclusion

Finally, it is concluded that, the research’s main focus is Google maps. It includes the definition, evolution, characteristics, advantages and disadvantages of Google maps. Google maps is accessed only by electronic devices like desktop computers, laptops, tablets and smart phones. It is easy to access at anytime and anywhere, even in offline mode. It occupies a small memory space. It is helpful for all community purposes. Nowadays, they prefer Google maps for quick access purpose, along with providing a lot of important information about the destination a user wishes to go to. It is a free application that serves the society very well, and it is also easy to utilize. Google maps is one of the innovations in this decade that brings great improvements to our lives by helping us become more efficient and effective.

However, in my opinion, I would recommend Google maps’ company to take new satellite pictures every few months to always be aware of new streets and traffic changes. In addition, I would recommend Google maps to add a complaint field to alert the application programmers about any route structure changes. I see that it will help improve the performance of the application, and it will definitely help the users reach their destinations faster. Google maps, in my opinion, is one of the best navigation applications that I have ever used, because it is more accurate than any other application and it helps with my time management by reaching my destinations within the given time frames. I use it on daily basis and I would honestly be lost without it. What a great application!