and the people shall inherit the earth
I was pleased and excited to see this week’s launch of Public Earth’s website. Not just because it’s the home of a small cadre of friends that I knew would build something very interesting, but because I believe in the fundamental premise underlying Public Earth.
The Twitter synopsis of Public Earth sums it up nicely.
We’re the Wiki For Places, dedicated to delivering interesting, unique, and up-to-date place information in a personalized way.
after world domination
The scale of product investment and advancement commitment from Google and Microsoft in mapping these past five years has been truly impressive. These brands deservedly unseated MapQuest’s sleepy position by moving the ball forward on user experience, on multi-dimensional content, and on developer tools.
Fact is though, we’re still at the utilitarian consumption stage in geo-experience, and the very thing that creates their current world domination could well be what weighs down their forward progress. The “Anchor Tenants” of the consumer geo universe, perhaps. [for fun: Google = Walmart, MapQuest = Kmart, and Microsoft so wants to be Target].