Google Maps turns 20, adds AI features, new countries beat Apple

Two decades ago, Google co-founder Larry Page came up with an idea that forever changed the way we move around the world.

“Larry drove down some of these streets with a video camera, handed it to someone and said, 'Hey, what can you do with this?'” said Maria Biggs, technical program manager for Google Street View, an important feature of Google Maps.

In a car equipped with the latest Street View camera, Biggs took CNBC on a spin near Google's headquarters in Silicon Valley. First introduced in 2022, it is the first camera model that can be mounted in any car, rather than built into it.

“We're going to Hawaii with next-generation camera systems because we don't have to ship the whole car,” Biggs said. “We can just put the camera system in a box and ship it there, and then rent a car once we get there.”

Biggs said the new technology will allow Google to update data in some places for the first time in 10 years.

“We will be able to easily move these cameras around and bring more freshness to our maps,” she said.

With more than 2 billion monthly usersGoogle Maps is everywhere peak navigation application. As Maps approaches its 20th anniversary in February, Google is working hard to maintain that lead using new cameras and generative AI.

More agile cameras allow Google to update data in dozens of countries. It also maps at least three new ones – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Namibia and Liechtenstein. Street View cameras play a significant role in Google's data collection for Google Maps, but they also rely on satellite and aerial imagery and information from more than 1,000 external sources such as local governments and users. Thanks to this mass data collection system, Google can offer maps in over 250 countries and territories.

Gemini also allows you to voice activate reports in Waze, which Google bought in 2013 for $1.3 billion. This data is sent to Google Maps to alert drivers in both apps about hazards in real time.

“We hope our products will help people navigate more confidently and safely,” said Chris Phillips, vice president and general manager of Google Geo, the division that operates Maps. He said Waze also helps improve road safety by “notifying people that a particular street has had problems in the past and we've seen a noticeable change in people's behavior when they drive on those streets.”

Waze is also known for offering alternative routes.

“We'll do some more provocative maneuvers along the way,” Phillips said, in terms of “busying through traffic and getting around.”

But alternative routes do, too traffic got worse in some neighborhoods where small roads may be ill-equipped to handle many cars.

Phillips said Google only uses public roads and works with local authorities to comply with regulations on specific streets.

“The use of these navigation apps, both built-in and on smartphones, is almost universal,” said James Hodgson, who covers automotive at ABI Research.

Hodgson said one of the problems currently is that technology is targeted at individual users. To improve efficiency, he said, “we're getting to the point where we need to take a broader view, almost down to the fleet level.”

Hodgson said the main “perception barrier” facing Google is around data privacy.

Identifying information such as faces and license plates are blurred in Google Maps, which users can do ask to blur the area in Street View to prevent risks such as thieves analyzing their property.

Users can also turn off location history or delete places they have visited. Some places, e.g abortion clinics or shelters for victims of domestic violence are automatically deleted. In December, Google started storing location history on devices instead of in the cloud, which makes it more difficult authorities to access location history.

How much Google spends and earns from Maps is shrouded in mystery. Parent company Alphabet does not provide Maps on its own earnings reports by combining them with other services such as search and YouTube. One estimate is from 2019 Morgan Stanley the report forecasts that Maps' revenue will grow from $2.95 billion in 2019 to $11 billion in 2023.

Revenue relies largely on a model that Google knows well: advertising.

“Our focus is always on ensuring that users who are searching for a restaurant or place get a result that best matches what they are looking for,” Phillips said. “And sellers have the opportunity to actually pay for advertising to get their spot on that list.”

Google also makes money by selling a software interface with detailed data photovoltaic companies are looking for new customers. It contains highly accurate roof images, measurements, heights and shading of approximately 480 million buildings in 40 countries.

Google sells access to its own Map Platform to companies, among others Wayfair AND Domino. Developers have used it to build over 10 million websites and apps such as food delivery, ridesharing, and real estate. For example in 2019 Uber he said it paid Google $58 million for mapping technology over the past three years.

Google Android operating system Automotivehe also makes money thanks to Maps. It powers the infotainment systems in many of the brand's cars Pole Star, Volvo, Honda, GM AND Ferry.

As robotaxis becomes mainstream, accurate mapping is critical and a big opportunity for Google.

Waymo owned by Alphabet dominated the US robotxi market in 2024, and passengers in Phoenix will be able to choose one of the fully autonomous cars directly from the Google Maps application. Robotaxis also offers the potential for a virtuous cycle.

“I think the ambition of Waymo, and something we see with almost every other autonomous vehicle platform provider, is to try to close that loop and use the same vehicles that use the map to also contribute to that map,” Hodgson said. “This is the future of mapping in the context of autonomous driving.”

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