Mapping creates jobs, drives global economic growth

MANILA, Philippines - Twenty years ago, paper maps and printed guides were used to navigate the world. Today, the most advanced digital mapping technologies, such as satellite imagery, GPS devices, location data, and of course, Google Maps, are accessible to pretty much everyone. This sea of change in mapping technology is improving lives and helping businesses realize untold efficiencies.  

Behind the maps used every day is a growing industry that creates jobs and drives economic growth globally. To present a clearer picture of the importance of the geo services industry, Google commissioned a global study from Oxera. What it found is that maps make a big economic splash around the world.

Globally, the geo services industry is valued at about $150 billion to $270 billion per year and pays out $90 billion in wages. The study shows the many benefits of maps, whether it’s improving agriculture irrigation systems or helping emergency response teams save lives.

About 1.1 billion hours of travel time saved each year? That’s a lot of time. Also, consider United Parcel Service, an American global package delivery company that uses map technology to optimize delivery routes — saving 5.3 million miles and more than 650,000 gallons of fuel in 2011.

And every eight seconds, a user hails a taxi with Hailo, which used maps and GPS to deliver over one million journeys in London alone last year. Finally, Zipcar uses maps to connect more than 760,000 customers to a growing fleet of cars in locations around the world.

Because maps are such an integral part of how we live and do business, the list of examples goes on and on. That’s why it’s important to invest in the geo services industry to ensure it continues as an economic driver in our global economy. Investments can come in many forms, whether it’s product innovation, support of open data policies, and push for more geography education programs in schools.

Closer to home, geo services have also helped consumers with decision-making in critical times. During the 2009 typhoon “Ondoy,” Google brought Google Map Maker to the Philippines to help the Philippine Red Cross map places used during a crisis, including health centers, government offices, gymnasiums and public schools used for evacuation.

More recently, the Google Maps team made a crisis response map available for Filipinos when typhoon “Pablo” hit Mindanao last December. The map, which was developed by working with the government and first responders, provided useful information for Pinoys in disaster-prone and disaster-stricken areas during the onslaught of the typhoon, allowing them to better allocate resources and save time and even lives during a time of crisis.

Google takes pride in the contributions that Google Maps and Earth, the Google Maps APIs and Enterprise solutions have made to the geo industry and in making maps more widely available, but there’s a long way to go.