Funny, I Could Have Sworn Platial HQ Showed up on Google Maps Yesterday …

Ever heard of Wayfaring? Platial?Flagr? How about Click2Map? Well, if you haven’t yet heard of these personalized map services built on top of the Google Maps API, chances are you never will. Because on Thursday, Google launched a new feature that may well put them all out of business. Dubbed My Maps, it allows amateur cartographers to create and annotate maps of their own within the Google system. “Who better to create maps than local experts?” Jessica Lee, product manager for Google Maps, told Reuters. “MyMaps makes map-making universally accessible to anyone.” Of course, Google has other reasons for offering such a service. By allowing regular users to quickly and easily create maps, Google will create more user-generated content for its mapping search engine, making it increasingly more useful–and ubiquitous.