Online Mapping Continues to Evolve

This article from Forbes.com analyzes the highly competitive online mapping space and the monetization strategies that are starting to be seen. There are also many smaller start-ups that play a part in the online mapping food chain, according to the article:

Trulia.com, for example, is a real-estate search engine company that relies on Google’s mapping software. It received nearly $6 million in venture funding in 2005. It’s a symbiotic relationship: The portals help start-ups get off the ground, and the start-ups help draw more traffic to the portals.

This space is heating up fast, and the pace of feature development is rapid. MapQuest remains the traffic leader, but Yahoo! comes out on top in terms of features, according to this recent overview of the space by Techcrunch. Kelsey Group clients can view our analysis of the online mapping sector here, and a summary is available here.