Google Maps has finally gone indoors. As of now there are limited locations available. Some airports (San Francisco, Atlanta and Chicago) and some vendors (Macy’s, Home Depot and Bloomingdale’s) are the only currently available maps, but that will change. The new service allows people to see floor plans as well as the locations on those floor plans of certain areas (as in the vendors) and certain vendors (as in the larger maps of airports and malls, etc.). For now the update is only available on Android versions of the service, but eventually it will be available on desktops and iPhone versions as well.
The obvious effect for the digital agency will be the growing importance of Google Maps. Google Maps had already been established as, at the least, an equal to AOL’s Mapquest. This change will make Google Maps much more consulted and much more important in the local search market. A synergy between Google’s search service and Maps will also help propel Maps.
The digital advertiser now has an ability to help its clients that may be located inside a large building like a mall or airport or skyway system. The new indoor function allows those smaller businesses to be represented whereas they remain invisible to non-Maps services. A proper campaign for a client will now need to involve Google Maps whereas it was potentially irrelevant before this update.
Before this update Maps was drawing 8.6 million users per month to its mobile site. The Maps app ranked third behind FaceBook and The Weather Channel among all smartphone platforms.
Tags: android, apple, Digital Marketing, google, internet, iphone, location based services, maps, shopping