Google Maps to charge heavy users

Companies and individuals that frequently link to Google Maps will soon have to pay for this service. From January 1, 2012 onwards, Google will set a threshold of 25,000 redirects per day. If a site links to Google Maps more than 25,000 times a day, the website operator that uses the service will have to pay about €3,- per 1000 hits. Google intends to use the additional revenues to improve their mapping service and to ensure its future.

Many companies use Google Maps to give visitors a clear picture of where the company is located. Travel agents are also big users, for instance to provide potential travellers  information about holiday destinations.

Google’s maps are widely used around the world, so it's not surprising that Google transforms this into a paid service. Actually, the step Google Maps has announced for January 1 is fairly modest, as less than 1% of its users is likely to be affected. In principle, Google could charge more users or limit the free use of their material quite a bit more. As they themselves produce the maps and visualize the material in their own unique way, Google could easily take the exploitation of their content to a different level, by virtue of their copyrights. For example, Google could work with licenses and restrict user’s ability to distribute and print their data.

For the record: we have no indication that Google Maps actually intends to move to this scenario at the moment. But, it is clear that the U.S. Internet giant is sitting on –yet another- goldmine with this service.

Sources: BBC, Marketingfacts.nl