Using Google Maps costs more than you think.
Google Maps is free, isn’t it?
It seems like a question with an obvious answer, doesn’t it? Of course, Google Maps is free. I’ve never been asked to enter my credit card to look up a new address. There is no subscription plan. There is no pay wall.
But just because you are not exchanging money to use Google Maps does not mean you are not exchanging value. I intend to show you just how much. You might not like it.
We’ll use Google Maps to help us walk through a basic use case and better understand the value exchange, but there are plenty of other examples. Let’s begin.
1. You’re traveling from Minneapolis to Omaha (a long drive, by the way). By the time you arrive, you’re likely to want something to eat. You open the Google Maps app, search for “Omaha, Nebraska,” and then search for “nearby restaurants.”
2. If you haven’t given the Google Maps app on your phone the permission to use your location information, it will ask you for that. It’s obvious, isn’t it? But think about that for a moment. Google Maps doesn’t need to know where you are to show you restaurants in Omaha. There are no “terms and conditions” to read. There is only an “accept” button. You click it.
3. Google Maps shows you a list of restaurants, reviews, and distances. Remember, you gave it permission to know where you are right now. That’s cool, huh? Assuming you find a restaurant you like, Google Maps can give you turn-by-turn driving directions with live traffic updates … and with connections to some other apps, and based on your estimated arrival time, even put your name on the wait list for a table so that you can walk right in.
Pretty amazing, isn’t it?
For many of us, this use case is so routine that it’s almost unremarkable. But for anyone used to car trips with the family as a kid in the 1980s (and the inevitable and horrifying gas station restaurant food), Google Maps delivers something close to magic.
In fact, the experience is so magical that we often don’t think beyond that simple interaction.
Let’s do that, shall we?
Here’s the part of the value exchange that you might not see.
