The Google-Apple Map Wars: An Open Gov Data Case Study

My colleague over at The Atlantic, Megan Garber, has an interesting piece about Google’s drive to retain its position as the nation’s default mapper and not go broke in the process.
 
The search giant is scaling back its plans to charge some major users of its mapping tools, such as large media organizations, in the wake of news that Apple will begin using its own maps rather than Google’s on its iPhones and iPads.
 
One seldom named player in the “map wars” is the U.S. government, which supplies many of Google’s base maps and the Global Positioning System data that turns your iPhone map from a static tool to an arrow that sends you directly where you want to go.
 
Apple’s challenge to Google and Google’s monetization of its mapping technology, then, is early evidence of a point data transparency advocates -- including the tag team Chief Information Officer Steven VanRoekel and Chief Technology Officer Todd Park -- make frequently: that government data can lead not just to new products from the private sector but also to new market entrants, price competition and thriving new industries that grow the overall economy.