Google takes maps into the business world

SAN FRANCISCO -- Google is trying to get its Maps service used by more businesses, not just consumers.

The company unveiled Maps Engine Pro Monday, which lets businesses upload data into Google Maps to visualize and analyze it. The service costs $5 per user per month and runs on Google's public cloud computing platform.

Google is hoping companies use the service in the same way they already use existing work applications and documents, such as spreadsheets, says Brian McClendon, vice president of Google Maps.

The move is part of Google's broader effort to get businesses to use its cloud-based work applications, rather than traditional desktop-based software such as Microsoft's Office suite of programs.

Google Maps is already the leading online Maps service, but it is available for free for most consumers and helps the company generate advertising revenue from local advertisers. Google also offers Maps Engine as a high-end product to heavy enterprise users at a cost of at least $10,000 a year. The new product is a way for Google to generate a different type of subscription revenue from small and medium-sized businesses.

"We want to enable every user to be a cartographer so they can capture their business data and not just visualize but analyze it too," says Vinay Goel, a Google Maps product manager. "We see this becoming the next productivity tool or app."

Google expects the service to be used for lots of data crunching projects, such as analyzing warehouse, inventory, customer and employee locations.

Google uses the service internally to plan how best to shuttle employees from around the Bay Area to its Mountain View, Calif., headquarters and back, Goel noted.

The new service could also be used by a business that is planning a new restaurant and wants to analyze building permits so it knows what will be the busiest area to set up shop, according to Heather Folsom, product manager for Maps Engine Pro.