{"id":117338,"date":"2019-09-03T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-04T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dacgroup.com\/the-maps-race-google-vs-apple\/"},"modified":"2024-12-20T09:23:07","modified_gmt":"2024-12-20T14:23:07","slug":"the-maps-race-google-vs-apple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dacgroup.com\/en-ca\/insights\/blog\/strategy\/the-maps-race-google-vs-apple\/","title":{"rendered":"The Maps Race: Google vs. Apple"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every brick-and-mortar business knows it: maps channels are fast becoming the de facto driver for local lead generation. Whether you have 12 locations or 12,000, your local customers are not only browsing maps for your locations (and those of your competitors) but making their purchase decisions entirely in-app.<\/p>\n

Although these apps have evolved relatively slowly compared to other digital advances in the same time frame, August 2019 saw both Google and Apple begin to roll out significant upgrades to their respective maps platforms. For Google, we’re talking about a conceptual leap forward with a serious wow factor; for Apple, it’s more a case of trying to keep up with a fierce rival who continues to set the gold standard.<\/p>\n

Google Maps “Live View” is here<\/h2>\n

Walking directions and augmented reality\u2014together at last! Google’s new “VPS” (visual positioning system) is now launching under the name Live View. Residing as a native feature within the Google Maps app for iOS and Android devices, it provides augmented on-screen walking directions in urban areas.<\/p>\n

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GIF courtesy of Google<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Live View was already available to owners of newer Pixel phones and to a small set of Local Guides who were essentially guinea pigs in Google’s latest experiment. Now it’s ready for the big time as Google seeks to consolidate its burgeoning status as the world’s one-stop trip-planning platform.<\/p>\n

Right now there’s nothing business owners can do to take advantage of this new feature, but you can be sure that Live View will be monetized at some point. We’ll be watching closely as Google figures out how to integrate local discovery and ads\u2014and visualize local listings<\/a>\u2014but for now we’ll simply enjoy a novel user experience getting from point A to point B.<\/p>\n

Player 2 has entered the game<\/h2>\n

After a disastrous initial foray into maps in 2012 (described by The Guardian as a “$30bn mistake<\/a>\n

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