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available online to create a monetizable audience for
advertisers instead of keeping hold of the data. It opted for
the online publishing of a mapping API as a way of
increasing its value, by releasing it as support for other
applications.
Maps also help Google respond to its constant needs to
access consultation data ( logs ) online, which are then
processed to improve its services. The quality of the Google
services - from its initial activity of classifying information
to the various applications the company offers (such as
Gmail or Google translate) - rely on the constant analysis of
the user's activity. For instance, the Google translation
service is being continually improved from the analysis of co-
occurrences of terms in the queries made in different
languages [LEV 11]. However, the quest for the extension of
available information faces the fact that not all the
information on the Web is in an
HTML format, and therefore, not all of it is easily indexable.
Geographical information for example has to be translated
in natural language before being processed. So getting
information on base maps increases the amount of
information that is available for the search engine Google
to process. We now understand Google's declaration
when they purchased the company Keyhole 10 : “When we
talk about the world's information, we mean geography
too.” 11
3.2.2. Where does OpenStreetMap fit in?
From Google's point of view, maps are not only of interest
as a way of locating information; they are part of the
company's position within the Web of platforms. On the
10 Bought by Google in 2004 for the development of the Google Earth
application.
11 “Heinz Duthel, Google Inc. Services - Google Tools - What is Google?, See:
dusk.geo.orst.edu/prosem/GISci_panel.ppt.
 
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