What happens when you combine online maps with a collection of photos and a set of real estate listings? You get a real estate Web site, perhaps. And you could set up one of these so-called "mash-ups"
in about an hour. They're called "mash-ups" because they let you "mash" together map data from Google and Microsoft with just about anything you want. At a recent Web 2.0 conference, Forbes.com
reports, you could find scores of entrepreneurs who wanted to do things like attach longitude and latitude coordinates to digital photos or give every street address in the world a Web address. As
cool as such bright ideas sound, how exactly do mash-up makers plan to make money? At least a few have found a way to make a (potentially) profitable business, but most of these are variations on the
real estate theme. The rest may be waiting around for the big three to buy their big idea, but analysts note that this is unlikely to pan out for most. One guy created a Craigslist-Google Maps mashup
called HousingMaps, which was promptly scooped up by Google. But it's interesting to note that the search giant basically bought something based on its own data. The Forbes article profiles several
other startups with some cool ideas, but doesn't find a solid business model for most of them.
Read the whole story at Forbes.com »
