谷歌地图变身办公软件？

    谷歌（Google）希望人人都成为制图员，而且掏钱来买它的制图工具。本周一，谷歌推出了新产品Map Engine Pro，使企业能轻松将数据转变成交互式、可共享的地图。Map Engine Pro是最新加入谷歌面向企业级客户推出的在线办公工具企业应用套件（Google Apps for Business）的产品。Map Engine Pro旨在成为像文档和电子表格这样无处不在的软件。

    这项技术本身并不新奇。谷歌一直在提供两个版本的地图服务：面向个人用户的免费版本和面向企业的付费版本。后者价格昂贵（授权费至少每年1万美元），但功能繁多，企业可以在地图上添加大量数据。Map Engine Pro的定位介乎两者之间，每月使用费仅为每用户5美元。实际上，与其说这是一项新技术，还不如说是针对现有技术的新的定价模式。

    为什么企业（及其员工）需要制作地图呢？按照谷歌的说法，可视化的数据可以非常高效地进行分析。任何基于地理信息的数据都可以制作成地图，例如客户地址和员工的位置等。一家公司可以将售后服务的来电地址导入地图，这样就能发现来电最频繁的地区，从而更好地配置资源。销售人员还可以在地图上绘出潜在客户的位置，从而更好地进行市场分析。谷歌希望自己的地图软件能成为像文本编辑器一样简单易用的基础工具。Map Engine Pro支持许多格式的文件，最高可支持10个图层，用户只需把数据导入统一的地图接口即可。

    谷歌地图副总裁布莱恩•麦克莱顿在博客里隆重推介了这款新产品：“我们提供了非常出色的方法，能极为便捷地把企业运营数据整合到地图中，让人们体验到强大的地图技术所具有的威力。以前，只有地图专家们才能做到。”

    从用户角度而言，互联网大潮给地图技术带来了新生（打开Facebookfeed，大家会看到许多特别火的恶搞地图）。所以，地图绘制会火起来也说不定。不过，现在尚不清楚有多少公司愿意为画地图掏腰包，虽然价格不是问题。谷歌一直在与微软（Microsoft）以及一些较小的公司在办公软件市场展开竞争。谷歌是世界上最好的地图公司（之一），推出Map Engine Pro对它而言是明智之举，而且是举手之劳。

    对于那些有意试用谷歌地图功能的公司，谷歌目前正免费提供有限制的试用帐户，用户能借此体验其“地理空间基础设施”。至少，企业客户可以先试用一下相关功能，看看制图工具对其员工而言到底是一款必要的办公软件，还是只是个有意思的消遣。（财富中文网）

    译者：项航  

    Google wants everyone to become a cartographer--and pay for it. On Monday the search company launched Map Engine Pro, a new offering that enables employees to easily turn datasets into interactive, shareable maps. The latest addition to Google Apps for Business, the company's online suite of productivity tools for corporate customers, is designed to sit alongside other workplace applications like documents and spreadsheets.

    The technology itself is nothing new. Google (GOOG) has long-offered both a free, consumer-facing version of its mapping software and much pricier, heavy-duty mapping services for enterprises that want to plot large amounts of data (at a cost of at least $10,000 a year). Map Engine Pro sits somewhere between those two offerings, and will cost a monthly $5 per user. In effect, it's not so much a new product as a new pricing model for existing technology.

    Why would employees (and their employers) want to create maps? According to Google, it can be an effective way of visualizing and analyzing data like customer addresses and employee locations--basically anything that has a geographic element. For example, a company could plot the locations most customer service calls are coming from in an effort to better utilize their resources. Or map out geographic data of sales leads in an effort to better understand their market. The idea, according to Google, is to make its mapping software as easy and basic a tool as document creating and editing. Users can port data from multiple file formats onto a map interface, then add up to 10 "layers" of information.

    "By providing better ways to easily integrate maps into your organization's operations, businesses now have the ability to use powerful mapping technologies that were once only available to the mapping experts," Brian McClendon, Google's VP of maps and earth, wrote in a blog post announcing the new product.

    On the consumer end, the Internet has spawned a mapmaking renaissance of sorts (just scroll through your Facebook (FB) feed for a sampling of the latest viral--and often, politically incorrect--maps). So maybe cartography will also find some popularity in the workplace, though it's not clear how many companies would be willing to pay, however affordable, for mapmaking capabilities. Still, it's a smart and easy move for the Mountain View, Calif.-based tech giant--arguably one of the best (if not the best) mapping companies in the world--as it tries to compete with the likes of Microsoft (MSFT) and smaller players in the productivity software market.

    For companies interested in test driving Google's mapping capabilities, Google is now offering a free, limited, introductory account that lets users play around with their "geospatial infrastructure." At least corporate customers can play around with the features before deciding whether or not cartography is a necessary tool or just a fun distraction for employees.