Google Maps has been the dominant map platform for many years and, of course, developers are also keen to maintain this position of choice. To do this, not only are new sources of information being exploited, but the application has also been developed more broadly. Last year, the focus was on developing transit services. However, this area should still develop and become a true center of interest.
Google Maps, that’s a lot: a map platform, a navigation solution, a huge geo database, a classification portal and even a social network. With this wide range, it is difficult to cope with ever greater competition, which is currently being worked on at the time of the pressure. Public transport, which could play a major role in the future, is a neglected element.
After Google has significantly expanded this area, it must of course also be closer to users. Google Maps has long been informing nearby stations by notification in the operating system and immediately communicating live start times. With a touch, you can access detailed information such as route, upcoming departures and more. This probably made some users aware of the high volume of data for the first time.
This week, local transit stations also began posting detailed information about each location to remind users to use public transit or just to save the search on the map. In all cases, this data must be reconciled with the user. The main goal will be for users to always use maps for navigation, even on well-known routes, and take advantage of live data.
To achieve this, some additional features have been incorporated in recent months: many people on the move listen to music. Listen, the most popular music players have been integrated. No change of application is necessary. In addition, the live location has recently been released when browsing public transport. You do not have to constantly inform other users of your location. All this is for the user to constantly use the navigation – and if it’s only in the background.
In particular, thanks to the new features, Google Maps makes life difficult for many small public transport applications, as they might like their regions. have special offers, but they have no chance in terms of scope and data compatibility. Transport associations provide their data in a special format required by Google, but will not create additional interfaces for small mass applications. The cards are almost as good as Mono’s next monopolistic slot.
In the end, these many features have the sole purpose of keeping users connected to Google Maps and make the application even more immersive in their daily lives. This method has been successfully followed for years and extends the single window to more and more areas. This is certainly only a matter of time before public transport navigation is monetized because the potential is huge on all sides.
Theoretically, Google Maps could directly sell a ticket to users, because many transport companies are already digital. Offer tickets – sooner or later, something like this will find its way into Maps, then probably with commission. But in the other direction, you could make money directly from the transport companies. With countless smartphones in the pockets of users, Google provides highly accurate transaction data and traffic usage. Operators need such values and with most of their own methods, it’s hard to capture them as accurately as Google’s location history.
We might be curious to see how this area evolves and there will certainly be other innovations soon.
