3 ms·

"and offered it to everyone for free, making a fortune" - this makes no sense

• hirundo 5y ago
  This is Google Earth and Maps. They're free to users, but make Google billions on ads.
  • gundmc 5y ago
    > This is Google Earth and Maps. They're free to users, but make Google billions on ads Citation needed. Google only recently started showing ads in Maps and there is no way it's near billions at this point.
    • hirundo 5y ago
      I don't have that citation. But Google doesn't spend billions on growing and maintaining apps just for public benefit. Those services pull their weight (now or prospectively) or Google would pull the plug. Generally their strategy is to drive traffic to search, and ads.
    • blihp 5y ago
      It's more subtle than just showing a traditional ad. When you search on a business (i.e. restaurant, hotel etc) in a given area, businesses are often paying to show up prominently in the results and/or when you're zoomed out.
    • EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK 5y ago
      They don't need to. They can show more relevant ads in search or email if they know where you are on the maps.
  • simplestats 5y ago
    They have pricing plans for business users: https://mapsplatform.google.com/pricing/ https://mapsplatform.google.com/pricing/ I suspect if anyone uses it too much per hour or something, they will block you awhile and ask you to sign up for a plan. This is what google translate does.