Kudos to Google for bringing yet another cool computer trick to the masses, but don't forget that they're targeting the *extremely* competitive space of local search, which everyone expects to be a HUGE source of $$ in the search space over the coming years (especially as the "pay for search terms" income levels off).
Assuming this photographic technique works, the question I have is how Google intends to keep it relevant.
It's one thing to photograph all the buildings once, but buildings (or facades) come and go with surprising frequency (think restaurants). Are they going to maintain a fleet of trucks rolling by every month on every city street throughout the US (or world), or is this a one-time snapshot? If the latter, it would be a fun intellectual curiosity, but not something on which you could base your local search product.
I'm going to patent my own licensing model, which should steer clear of Sun's proposed patent, by charging a unit price (P) multiplied by the number of urinals (U) and toilets (T) available within the business at any time.
Total price = P * (U + T).
Not only do I not utilize the "number of employees", but I've got addition in my formula, too! That should pass the Patent Office's "non-obvious" test.
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Kudos to Google for bringing yet another cool computer trick to the masses, but don't forget that they're targeting the *extremely* competitive space of local search, which everyone expects to be a HUGE source of $$ in the search space over the coming years (especially as the "pay for search terms" income levels off).
Assuming this photographic technique works, the question I have is how Google intends to keep it relevant.
It's one thing to photograph all the buildings once, but buildings (or facades) come and go with surprising frequency (think restaurants). Are they going to maintain a fleet of trucks rolling by every month on every city street throughout the US (or world), or is this a one-time snapshot? If the latter, it would be a fun intellectual curiosity, but not something on which you could base your local search product.
I'm going to patent my own licensing model, which should steer clear of Sun's proposed patent, by charging a unit price (P) multiplied by the number of urinals (U) and toilets (T) available within the business at any time. Total price = P * (U + T). Not only do I not utilize the "number of employees", but I've got addition in my formula, too! That should pass the Patent Office's "non-obvious" test.