Global Positioning System Reference
In-Depth Information
8.2.2 Microsoft and Multimap
Virtual Earth is Microsoft's on-line product (which is similar to Google Maps),
and MapPoint is a stand-alone enterprise GIS application. Microsoft recently took
over Multimap [5], the popular Web 2.0 mapping company [6].
8.2.3 Teleatlas and Tom Tom
Tom Tom [7] is a popular manufacturer of vehicle satellite navigation (sat-nav)
equipment that has recently taken over Teleatlas [8] (a provider of vector maps for
navigation for many other parties, including Google).
8.2.4 Navteq and Nokia
Navteq [8] is a competitor to Teleatlas [9] and has recently been taken over by
Nokia, the largest manufacturer of mobile phones globally.
8.2.5 Mapquest and AOL
Mapquest [10] was one of the earliest entries and a very popular site for street-
level mapping that is now part of AOL (a large international Internet service and
content provider), which is in turn part of the media company Time Warner.
8.2.6 Other Interesting Services
Other interesting services are provided by ULocate [11], a service for mobile
phones, AboutMyPlace [12] for very detailed aerial photography of the U.K., and
ViaMichelin [13] for travel and tourism.
8.2.7 The Social Networking Phenomenon
It seems likely that as the current trend for Web 2.0 social networking increases as
sites such as Facebook, Bebo, and MySpace become the first Web port of call for
an increasing section of the population, these organizations will also start to have
a mapping aspect to describe locations of the subjects and their activities. If these
are combined with real-time information (for example, from mobile phone
activity), then a good part of the Whereness vision might be realized. Currently,
many are questioning the long-term effect of social networking and its market
value, but there is a good chance that this list of big mapping players will soon
include aspects of social networking.
Social networking may soon spread to include business and commercial
networking and be the de facto method (at least in some business areas) to
communicate with colleagues, partners, stakeholders, suppliers, and customers.
The inclusion of Whereness services could be promoted by the clear business
 
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