Amen, Chris! =)

Unless it’s taking something that is in a Walled Garden and making it more open… then I whole heartedly support re-building it.

I agree. Up to a point. There are cases where existing widgets and services may not accomplish precisely what you’re trying to do. If the gap is important enough, it may be worth starting fresh.

Of course, I also believe (and advise anyone who will listen) that one must be careful about building an essential part of one’s business or web site in such a way that it is dependent on one provider. Now, in the case of maps, you’re likely to be able to find alternate providers down the road should Google or Yahoo pull the plug.

But if I were offering a service highly dependent on mapping, I’d be loathe to outsource it — especially to someone with whom I have no contract (and thus no fixed terms and known duration).

In short, do what you do best and outsource the rest. But make sure whatever you outsource you can live without or replace easily.

Hey Chip, Thats just good business sense. Anyone who’d outsource a core element of their product to a 3rd party without a contract is looking to have that product eventually hit a crisis should it fail.

Vergel, you’re right, but it is amazing how often companies these days rely on “Web 2.0″ services for their own company products. Even some of the big hits out there — like Amazon S3 — come with few guarantees and no long-term commitment. Or how about companies developing Facebook apps? What happens if Facebook decides to change the rules … it could kill a company on the spot if they are too deeply invested in it.

Or what about companies using Yahoo Pipes behind the scenes. Are they ready when/if Yahoo decides to either monetize it or end it since it is an R&D project?

This is the beauty of the iphone for me. I type in an address, or a search for a business, get the address, and then the google maps feature will both locate me and the place and give me directions. No fuss. Used it this weekend on my drive to Toronto both for overall directions and to monitor how close I was to the goal.

I agree, don’t spend time , money and effort duplicating what’s been done and done well. Instead figure out what is a big plus for you and your company and put your efforts into that. Remarkability is where the success will lie- doing what’s been done will not. And if you are going to “improve” on someone else’s thing, it should be a substantial improvement- tiny things won’t allow you to win in the marketplace.

Things are volatile out there, and the most vulnerable place to be is on the cutting edge- it’s exciting, but if you plan to make your first billion trying to undercut someone else’s business model, expect that the same will also happen to you in turn.

I agree, but also to a point. Why just Google though? I wish there was an alternative link to the other big services too, since not everyone (strange as this seems) uses Google.

But.

There are cases where either the mapping is too much info for confusing intersections, or has the info wrong. My buddies at Red Knight Learning Systems have a great, reduced info map that helps clearly tell people how to get to them when the mapping might confuse or mistake:

http://www.redknightlearning.com/images/map.gif

I think the bigger point is here to

a) clearly list your address in a format that is COPY/PASTE FRIENDLY

b) double check what the major mapping systems do with your address to ensure they’re helping not hindering

c) provide direct links if they are, or offer a better alternative if not

d) great your visistors with milk and warm cookies when they’re actually able to find you!

[…] This short post by Chris Brogan was one of my personal favorite this week. He explains why reinventing the wheel is such a purposeless attempt. […]