“Has that made people run out and go buy Vista machines? For most people the answer has been no,” Gold says. He says adding 3-D was a way to stay relevant for TeleAtlas and Navteq, both of which are being acquired (TeleAtlas by GPS maker TomTom , and Navteq by the world’s biggest cell phone maker, Nokia ).

Rich Gibson, coauthor of Mapping Hacks and Google Maps Hacks, agrees that the most obvious reason for these companies to add 3-D was also trivial: “because it’s cool.”

But he says that maps are a kind of story, and 3-D “lets you create richer stories. You can say more about reality when you have more data.”

For now, he says that 3-D maps are just a baby step toward developing more useful maps. “It’s the scaffold, the framework upon which the things we do in life can rest,” he says. When 3-D will become really important is when sensor networks develop over time. That will make it possible to enhance 3-D maps with any variety of features, in real time.

Advertising Spots on Map Makers' Agenda

3-D is just one of the things on the agenda for mapping companies. For instance, TeleAtlas is pushing to develop more content in 2008, working not only on expanding its maps but also on adding travel-related videos, or overlay features such as Wi-Fi hotspots in given areas, or places to buy biodiesel fuel in the U.S., to name two existing ones.

TeleAtlas is also experimenting with putting brands on its maps—already more than 100 companies, like McDonald’s, Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts and Exxon, get special logos for their locations. These could eventually lead to new kinds of advertising.

But, like 3-D maps, for now these are experiments in potential location-based services, rather than full-fledged enhancements.

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