The Geoweb--democratizing the map and changing the Web.(Insider's Perspective)

[Insider's Perspective lets experts in the information technology industry discuss the challenges and trends in their special niche in the marketplace. --Ed.]

Last May at O'Reilly's Where 2.0 conference, John Hanke, director of Google Earth, said the Geoweb will be as big as the page web. And Google was going to be investing in it accordingly. Fast-forward to today: Nokia has bought mapping company NAVTEQ while TomTom and Garmin fight over NAVTEQ competitor TeleAtlas.

But really, what is the Geoweb, and why are so many companies buying mapping technologies and content? What does this mean for the average enterprise?

Defining the Geoweb can lead to a contentious debate, but Mike Liebhold of the Institute for the Future has a nice, concise summary: "The integration of Web-accessible digital cartographic information with geocoded Web hypermedia." Euphemistically, …