The Overlooked Reason for Google Navigation

Update: I thought I might point out that I posted this well before I started working at Google. It in no way represents the feeling at Google; it was just my opinion. In fact, judging from my time here, I'd say that I was completely wrong about the whole thing. They really just care about making awesome stuff for the user (and they did; Google Navigation on the Nexus One is awesome). And, I'm continually surprised by how much they care about our privacy. They take it very seriously and have very strict limits on what can be done with user data. In fact, I can't think of any business that respects our privacy so much.

A lot has been written lately about Google Maps Navigation. Google is basically giving away an incredible mapping application with good mapping data for free. Why would they do such a thing? Most of the guesses I've seen basically say "they like to give stuff away for free to push more advertisements". That's close, but everyone seems to have missed a huge detail, perhaps the most important detail of all.

Google is an advertisement company, particularly skilled at targeted advertisements. Almost all of their revenue comes from being able to show you ads that you want to see when you want to see them. What does this have to do with maps and navigation? Well, this is going to seem really obvious once you read it, but no one seems to have mentioned it yet, so here it goes:

Google will know everywhere you drive, and when.

Do you drive past particular stores to and from work every day? They'll know.

Do you often search for "in-and-out" while driving?. They'll know.

Do you email your friends (using gmail) about how much you love Brand X jeans and are driving past a Brand X outlet mall? They'll know.

Did you recently search (on Google) for Computer Part Y and there's a sale for it at a store on your way to work? They'll know.

Are you driving around and stopping at foreclosed houses? They'll know.

Do you drive the same route to work at the same time of day as 12 other people? Then try the new Google Carpool!

I made that last one up. But you get the idea. The more Google knows about you, the better the advertisements they can serve you. And knowing everywhere you drive and when and what you are looking for is a lot of very powerful data. I'm sure the big brains in Mountain View are salivating over the data mining possiblities that they'll probably have very soon. And once you start using it, you'll probably start getting very well targetted advertisements because they'll know so much about you.

Whether it's a good thing or not that they know so much about you is a topic of another day. For now, let us all at least realize one overlooked purpose of Google Maps Navigation: more data about you for better advertisements.