All let Google do what else do we do? (Webmap direction)

I originally wanted to write the question as: Why I didn't use the Google Maps API or Google Earth, but I finally changed it to the current title, which may better express my thoughts. I wanted to write such a question for a long time. Today I read two Google map API development introductions and advanced featuresArticle(Find out for yourself and forget where to go down. It was the content provided at the 2.0 technology conference for software development, including csdn.) So I wanted to write the questions I wanted to write very early on, however, my thoughts have changed. I think I will invest in Google to start using Google's APIs. So why do I have to worry about Google Maps APIs for so many years? Let's take a simple look:

1. Google Maps APIs are too powerful. As powerful as we can't imagine, let's look at the released development tools: Maps API, mini map maplets, kml, mapsapiforflash, earthapi, and static mapsapi. And these APIs are enough to develop most of the functions we need, unless you don't think of them, you can't do it.

2. Map Data is free of charge. Google Earth was the first to be shocked, because such clear satellite image data is completely free of charge and it is very expensive to know such image data in mainland China. In addition to image data, vector data, terrain data, Street View data, and so on are all provided for free to view, so that the original electronic maps that all need to be charged are freely available. Even sky and Mars data are free of charge.

The two points above may all be regarded as the advantages of Google. Indeed, this is also true for me, but it is precisely because of these advantages that I am afraid of and Google has done so, what else do we do? Again, Google has made everything free of charge. How can we make money? Let's list some reasons why I don't need them:

3. How much confidence is there if Google Maps API and Google Earth are used as projects? Will anyone think that, oh, you are all developed using Google? What is your core technology? We need you to develop an engine to complete our project. As a result, you directly use the Google engine. Why is our project so expensive?

There may be such concerns about this, but I think, although Google is free of charge, it is precisely because Google provides such a powerful engine that makes our development so easy. Of course, if you are a company that is not fooled, it is true that Google's satellite images are still very good. In the world's first place, some people may be able to come up with satellite images that are more powerful than Google's, but I don't think it will be free. Since Google is free of charge, it will certainly save costs in the development process, because Google already provides basic data. However, I think what do companies that provide data? For example, a copy of Shanghai and its surrounding satellite image data seems to be sold to millions, I don't think this image can be seen. A small satellite image of several square kilometers is used for the basic data of remote sensing experiments in students' classrooms. It also costs several thousand yuan. Therefore, I think the advantage of using Google's free API is to save costs (including data and development time), and with the powerful support of Google, it is a product that will not be used as an engine as a small company and will be obsolete or unable to be maintained in year 35.

4. Google Earth cannot run on a low-configuration computer, and I still cannot use the earth API until now. Google Maps API is difficult for cainiao development like me.

At this point, I may have complained, because at the earliest time I insisted on using a computer with a CPU of, and it was basically not feasible to run Google Earth. Besides, I generally use a server system, therefore, the driver of the video card is basically not installed, so every time you open Google Earth, you will be prompted that the driver cannot run, because there is a problem with dirextx, and this causes me to not use Google Earth for several years. Recently I used Google Earth because I fixed OpenGL. Google Earth can run on the OpenGL platform. Alas, a Google Earth is really hard to worry about, simple things keep making me unable to run. The earth API may also be for this reason. As for the difficulty of API development, I think it is much simpler than developing an engine. As mentioned above, Google's technology is very powerful and there is no need to worry that the engine will have such problems, for example, memory overflow is caused by poor JS writing results. Therefore, the difficulty of API development and engine development is incomparable, and Google's continuous improvement can be said to be an increasingly perfect engine, even if it is difficult to develop, it means that the API is not for everyone, at leastProgramPersonnel used for development.

5. As Google products do not support custom data, I have never used the Google Maps API.

This point has changed a lot now. Maybe it's my early thought. The earliest reason for studying mapbar APIS was that Google could not load my own data. The data here is divided into two parts: Point and line, which are generally stored in the database and displayed on the engine, and basic data, river Green roads and other basic information, this information is the Google map we generally see, that is, those images one by one. The latter is the key, because even if Google is powerful and free, there is always some data that is not as powerful as I own, such as the school plan and campus plan, this is also the key to my constant research on mapbar Js. Now the situation has changed. Google can add overlay and it seems that overlay tile can be added. In this way, I think this problem can be basically solved. However, if you really want to use your own data and do not want to use any Google content, you can also try mapbar JS or simply use openlaers.

6. What fun is there for a small Earth to turn around or drag around with a map.

Although I am a practitioner of GPS/GIS, I believe that 80% of the information in my life is related to location. Although maps, data, and information are very important, I don't have that much passion. Why? Because what else can you do after Google Earth is opened, you finally turn to the pearl of the Orient, tell everyone I found the pearl of the Orient on Ge? Or you can find a crop circle on Ge and find a huge Earth text. I don't think I'm interested in any novelty, because I saw it and it had nothing to do with my life. Even if it is related to life, I went to the public comments network to find a place to eat, looked at the map, and then switched to the sogou map, enter the start and end points to calculate the bus route and know which car to take. Who will use the car route calculation like Google? To use it, use the Garmin car navigation PND. In addition, I don't need to navigate because I don't have a car. Even if I went to a fun place, even if I recorded a track or something with GPS, it didn't mean much to go back and read it. Of course, I am still more interested in accessing some projects. It is very interesting to use any technical means to accomplish this, but it seems that I can't think of anything, with limited technology, many things are shelved.

A little casual text would have to be written for more than an hour. Let's go to the end of the article and summarize it. After talking about so many good and bad Google, you can also find out why I don't need Google. But what is the answer to the title question? First of all, powerful Google will make money one day later. Although it seems to be free now, of course there are enterprise-edition paid projects, we do not know how much money we have received. Second, some enterprises have used Google APIs for secondary development and have made money through such secondary development. Then we come up with the first answer:

I. originality. Google is very powerful, but not all ideas come from Google. Although Google does have a lot of ideas, so if Google has done so, let us do what Google has not yet created, or Google does not care about small ideas. I remember that there was a typhoon 110 website that provided Typhoon Information, including real-time data (such as the current position and wind direction of typhoon Masha ), they use the Google Maps API. It may seem that the technology is not very difficult or is not profitable, but at least this is a good idea. I still remember that a foreign boy created an idea like "millions of homepages" in order to pay the tuition fee, and eventually got millions of students. Although the domestic market also follows suit, it seems that he has not done well, so, do we want to create a "million map.

II. Information. What is the most expensive in the 21st century? The most expensive information. I still remember the relationship between information and data mixing with my colleagues. Of course, information and data should have been defined in the basic computer course, but why is it the most expensive. Because whoever has the information has the initiative. When you want to build a project, you will find that there is not enough data to provide attractive content. Of course, it will be worse if you don't even have basic data, now, Google has provided us with basic data. For example, the public comments network itself is indeed a very good idea, but why does the public comments network stand in the position of the eldest brother and won't be defeated, the websites such as rice system, treat 800, and purple page are all behind, because the information of the public comment network is dominant, I believe that the hotel data of the public comment network is the most comprehensive and quality-oriented, and more users choose to comment on the public comment network, in addition, the advantages of the public comments network cannot be replaced, including large enterprises such as Google and 12580.

The last point is technology. I will not write it again, because this point is no longer crucial, because Google has paved the way for us, if technology is critical, unless you want to build an engine similar to Google Maps, Google's engine technology will block other products. Of course, there are also Microsoft and Yahoo APIs, but it is no longer a competitor of Google. At least for general products, the JS engine such as openlayers can only be considered another product under another requirement.

we welcome everyone to discuss "What else did Google do ?". This article will update the comments and thoughts in the future, and may generate some new texts (for example, this article does not talk about Google Maps API and ESRI ArcIMS ). Thank you