I spent the day working and thinking. I saw this earlier last week and it popped up again either on twitter, facebook, or somewhere:
It’s an interesting look at Google Maps and how it got to where it is now. Plus some nifty editing tools. Of course if you watch that – then you must watch this:
Yeah – it’s two separate things. Search and Mapping – but not really. It’s why I like working on OSM – I map what I want. You can do the same with Google – but I do worry about the filter bubble with Google Maps. Things can go wrong. Things can be ignored. It’s not anything inherent in google maps – I think it’s more the way we perceive things. You get used to one thing – be it Google or ESRI and you develop blinders. Hence my new love affair with Quantum GIS, PostGIS, and DuckDuckGO.
Change is good. Change up your GIS. Change up the way you look at maps. Stand on your head if you need to – it helps.