Google officially provides local services in Japan today

Google officially launched its Google local service in Japan today (July 14) in the United States. I believe that everyone is familiar with local, that is, detailed maps (not satellite photos) in each region plus information about restaurants, hotels, and other facilities in the region.

Google launched local in Japan so quickly, and its cooperation with NTT is inseparable. Because Google is not like Yahoo, Google is not a map line (Yahoo Japan has been providing the map service ). Fortunately, the map service in Japan is very mature. In Japan, there are dozens or even hundreds of map services that detail the map of every building all over the country for free. So what Google needs to do is to find a map service provider and compare its satellite photos with the corresponding information (store and other information, which has already been included in the MAP information ).

Therefore, if Google wants to launch the local service in China, it may take some time (or provide a relatively poor local service ?). First of all, Google cannot (to some extent, it does not make sense) provide services nationwide. Therefore, Google can only provide local services in major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. Even so, no map provider in China can provide maps of the same fineness as satellite photos. Compared with Japan's meticulous buildings, China's map service providers provide the largest number of blocks (or perhaps I have never heard of it, have I heard of it? If so, please also teach me ).

The following two images are electronic maps of China and Japanese at the same scale:

Therefore, China's electronic map industry still has a long way to go-but it is also an opportunity and a challenge and a market with great potential. If you are an entrepreneur, consider this. -- Of course, it is still difficult to practice it. Maybe China's map industry chain is not perfect, or even the construction management, road Management directly affects the map industry chain-who knows?

In short, I tried Google local in Japan today and entered "Pull plane" in the keyword ), enter "xianchuan" in the "location" Column (a place close to my home location), and find more than 10 noodle shops ......