Due to fierce competition from Internet majors like Microsoft, Amazon and Google, satellite mapping technology is improving so swiftly it seems nobody has taken time to think about the tech industry's
old innovation bugaboo: privacy. Analysts agree that privacy issues abound when high definition satellite images of just about anywhere are available; but the tradeoffs, they say, are worth it. The
potential for online advertising, for example, is massive. Local advertisers that don't want to buy national ads will have the opportunity of reaching consumers who are only scouring certain
neighborhoods for certain products and services. Last week, Microsoft scored a major deal with Verizon's yellow pages directory SuperPages.com to place local ads on its satellite maps in certain metro
areas. While the technology is still far from comprehensive, it's obvious that if Microsoft, Amazon, and Google are offering satellite mapping services to cash in on ad revenue they'll continue to
reap the benefits long after establishing a finished product. However, analysts are uncertain how quickly small business advertisers will respond to the new services, as the transition online
represents a big change in the way they do business.
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