Justin O’Beirne’s lengthy analyses of Google Maps and Apple Maps are always worth reading,¹ and his latest is no exception. Looking at the rapid proliferation of buildings, areas of interest and other examples of Google’s Ground Truthing program, Justin discovers that Google’s buildings data are a product of its satellite imagery, its places of interest are a product of its Street View data, and its areas of interest (the orange-shaded areas that indicate business districts) are the result of combining those stores of data.

…so this makes AOIs a byproduct of byproducts[.]

This is bonkers, isn’t it?

Google is creating data out of data.

This is slightly more than Google’s competitors are able to match. As always, Justin’s analysis is worth reading in full, and comes complete with before/after animations that make his point visually clear.

1. See previous entries: What Happened to Google Maps?; The Universal Map; Comparing Google and Apple Map Styles;  A Year’s Worth of Changes in Google and Apple Maps.