The End of Commerical GPS Mapping Products

[+user13371]

NDrive and Navteq are now giving away, for free, a complete routable map of USA on the iPhone. It's a 1.5 gigabyte download from the iPhone app store.

 

http://appshopper.com/navigation/ndrive-usa-ctia

 

This is a promotional, limited time offer -- but something important is happening here. In the past, mapping products like this could sell for big $ because the content itself was so large and hard to collect that folks paid someone else to deliver it to them. As data collection and delivery becomes so much easier, what is there to sell? Where is the money to be made that will keep the map sellers afloat?

 

Live traffic information? Updated POI listings? Innovative features nobody has thought of yet?

[MtnHermit]

The End of Commerical GPS Mapping Products, racing for the bottom

Indeed, racing for the bottom.

 

As data collection and delivery becomes so much easier, what is there to sell?

Is data collection really easier? Besides, data collection isn't a map, shouldn't that effort be rewarded?

 

Couple of things have struck me in this "map war"

1. Nokia paid ~$5B for Navteq less than 3-years ago, looks like a poor investment today.
   
2. How does any company survive this free model?
   

• Google has advertising, so location based ads will certainly drive revenue.
  
• Garmin has hardware, put software has traditionally been more lucrative.
  
• Will Nokia sell enough phones?
  

This reminds me of the browser wars, how does a company make money giving away a browser? Mozilla would be dead w/o the Google paid search box. Perhaps a day will come where Bing will outbid Google for that placement?

 

For me, maps are the only reason to own a GPS, hence no problem paying for a better map. Their are clearly free alternatives. Based on numerous post here, most people see free maps as a right.

 

It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

[+Bullygoat29]

Well it looks like this version will expire after March 27th. If this is the case, then this is a promotion which I believe to be the case.

[+RRLover]

Yes, it is open to interpretation just exactly in what context they're using the term

"valid"; POIs quit working? No longer free to acquire? Poof! It disappears, maps and all?

It's hard to say; I suspect the app. & maps are free to keep, guess we'll see after a week

won't we?

 

Norm

[+ecanderson]

Based on numerous post here, most people see free maps as a right.

 

It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

Had the opportunity a week ago to meet Steve Coast, the founder of OSM. He dropped in at a tech conference here in Denver since one of the presenters uses the OSM data underneath his "value add".

 

Although I've been using an OSM product on my Dakota 20 since about the second week after I bought it, I hadn't paid a great deal of attention to the overall concept. Got a chuckle out of him when he described the extent to which the folks in Germany have taken to OSM - the geocaching crowd seem (in his mind) to have waypointed every tree, trash can, bus stop, and any other object where a geocache might ever be hidden, in addition to every path and wildlife trail you might take to get there.

 

In addition, this crowdsourcing approach has produced the most detailed maps of that country you could ever hope to find.

 

Granted, they (the "crowd" in crowdsource) haven't started providing lane guidance information or some of the other features of the automotive GPS world, but on a "flat map" basis, they've got some areas of the world down a lot better than Navteq or TeleAtlas (not including Colorado, however -- there's a lot of work to be done out here).

 

Free.

[yogazoo]

Free maps move product. From phones to GPS's. The value is still there.

 

Working at a local sporting goods store I see how customers light up when I tell them that Delorme includes FREE topo and street maps or that there are whole libraries of FREE maps for Garmin GPS's. FREE maps always win the customer over, excluding the "other" brands that do not include the option of FREE detailed maps. It may be an end of commercial mapping as a stand alone money maker but the value still remains as more of a "feature" like a 3-axis compass or a touch-screen.

 

The FREE model makes money when it becomes a vehicle to move product.

[+user13371]

Minor update to original post: The free NDRive USA did expire and cease to function on 27 March. In its current iteration, a non-expiring version now costs $2.99:

 

http://appshopper.com/blog/2010/05/21/ndri...-sale-for-2-99/

 

but that sale price might change again. I have a feeling this might end up like "Motion-X GPS" which claims to be a $10 app that always seems to be on sale for $2.99