Having fun and doing business with Google Products

I recently went on vacation to a remote part of Jamaica and wondered if the location was included in the Google Earth database.  Well it was. I could see all the places I visited and sent links to friends.

This of course was just “a bit of fun”, but I started thinking about business applications.  We can now plan and track the movement of delivery trucks, see where our customer base is located, monitor the changes in demographics and of course plan a vacation using these tools to present information in new ways.

Now comes the next step.  Google Earth Builder is a cloud-based service that allows us make this information available to all users without special software packages.  The data is collected, processed and uploaded to the “cloud” and is available to users everywhere.

Share custom maps, vector drawings, view geospatial data files and more with team members across departments and around the world.  It is simple to keep everyone in the loop because all you need to access this information is a hand-held data device and of course a password.   

Once again, Google products have fundamentally changed the way we use and distribute geographic information.