"Part of our Ecosystem"

Directions Magazine's Adena Schutzberg offers a brief editorial this morning on what she calls "a big week for Google Maps news" and what that news might mean for GIS practitioners. She outlines a few practical thoughts on on the news that Google Maps now includes an elevation visualization, collaboration on user-created data, and non-GPS location tools for mobile applications.

She had an interesting side-thought, though, on why it is that GIS pros, with much more powerful GIS tools at their disposal, take notice of these logical next steps for Google:

Google, whether we like it or not, is part of our technology ecosystem. Even if we don't use Google Maps for analysis or Google tools for search, we know ultimately many of our end-users, clients, and citizens do.

That observation matches what several states have shared in recent forums. Google and its several data visualization platforms are becoming another in the several pathways through which we share data with our constituents and partners.