Here’s a great mashup of car listings data from eBay Motors with Google Maps from eBay evangelist Adam Trachtenberg.Okay, I get how eBay can use Google’s map data to sell more cars by showing where each one is located so that bidders can more easily take that information into account. That’s a great example of how eBay could use Google’s technology to increase its sales. (Note, eBay is not actually doing this—the mashup is just on Trachtenberg’s blog).
But let’s suppose that eBay Motors does eventually incorporate the mashup into its site. What happens when Google starts inserting local text ads into its maps, or requiring that people who use its maps data do so, like Microsoft wants to do? Then what you would have is not just a map mashup but a business mashup. eBay would incorporate Google’s mapping technology on eBay Motors to sell more cars, while Google would sell local search ads that appear on eBay’s site. It will never happen. But if it did, it would be so Web 2.0.
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