Believe it or not, Google Maps has only been around for a decade. It feels like it's always been around. When Google Maps arrived it changed the software world in a number of ways. Firstly, it made digital maps accessible to the masses. What it also did is trail blaze the idea of software applications as services that need no explanation or introduction. My kids can use Google Maps without a manual or any instructions. It's so intuitive they can work it out for themselves. Google Maps raised the question - 'Why can't all software applications be like this?'
With Microsoft Bing Maps, Google Maps and Yahoo! Maps all providing similar services it's perhaps a little surprising that any other supplier would attempt to launch another mapping service - but in September there's going to be another - Squork Maps.
So why would anyone think there's space for ANOTHER mapping service?
Well the design team of Squork Maps take the view that until now, people have had access to maps and finding places, but unless you have expertise in scripting or coding, putting your own data on the map (plotting pins) has been something few people could do by themselves.
What makes Squork Maps different then is that it enables non technical people to upload, publish, edit and download their data on maps. It uses downloadable templates to enable users to organize their content and then upload it on to maps. Users can manage security permissions and also have the ability to share their site URLs with collegues - even embed them into websites and blogs without requiring any coding skills. Unlike Google Maps that doesn't let you manage the data you publish on its maps, the data people use on Squork Maps is always there. Every aspect of the data management life-cycle is managed by the user themselves and it takes no training to do.
While software-as-a-service applications are nothing new, the way that Squork Maps makes complex IT accessible to a broader audience, is something special. It fills the gap between light-weight web mapping services like Google and the more serious geo-spatial intelligence systems like ESRI and Pitney Bowes MapInfo.
Will anyone pay the subscription to use it? That remains to be seen - but if it takes off, it could herald in a new set of user expectations around the ease of use and functionality of online apps.
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