Peter Griffin: Humble map book gives way to internet

Internet company Google created a sensation last year when it launched Google Earth , an online service that allows users to look at digital satellite photographs of swathes of the earth's surface. The United States' government was nervous that terrorists would pore over pictures of its military installations and privacy advocates worried we'd be watched from above. The rest of us zoomed in on the houses of our friends.

Not much of New Zealand is satellite mapped on Google Earth which comes as a free download, but you can zoom in on the swimming pool at the Hilton Hotel in Auckland and see no one was in it when the satellite photo was taken. It's an amazing service, especially when looking at more extensively mapped regions, such as North America and Europe. But more useful is Google's mapping service - updated to include complete road maps for New Zealand.

You can't yet search for roads in New Zealand as you can in other countries, which means most people will continue to go to the less effective but well-established Wises.co.nz
website. But in Google Maps, you can see all the road names. Businesses can be flagged on the maps.

Eventually, Google's maps of New Zealand will cover points of interest and business names so that finding your way is easier. Local company Zoomin.co.nz is already doing what Google Maps is undertaking on a global scale.

At Zoomin, which uses mapping from Land Information NZ and satellite maps from Nasa, you can search by street name and are sent immediately to your street of choice. Type in Taranaki St in Wellington for example, and the Circa Theatre and the Green Parrot restaurant appear as sites of interest in close proximity. Zoomin, picking up on the overseas, social networking craze on websites like Myspace.com, allowed groups to form based on locations of interest on the maps.

Both Zoomin and Google have also allowed their maps to be used in conjunction with third-party plug-ins.

Hundreds of Google Map mash-ups have already been created - pointing out particular points of interests that may appeal to a niche audience.

With Google Maps, Zoomin and Wises, New Zealand is well covered for free mapping.

They all allow you to print out of maps so the days of the dog-eared map book are all but over. At least one other web company is considering getting in on the action.

Effective advertising has made mapping hot. Location-based advertising services are a potential goldmine for companies.

With mapping services increasingly available via handheld computer and mobile phone, you could use them to find a petrol station or hotel based on a close proximity search. Any self-respecting business will clamber to be listed on the most visited site.

Who will win out? Local players have the advantage of access to good mapping and the ability to reach customers quickly. Wises will have to adapt quickly to meet the threat of more user-friendly technology employed by rivals and Zoomin will have to establish itself as the place for maps before Google gets its act together. Meanwhile, we can browse online and find our way for free.