Few endorsements can match one by Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz earlier this month when she surprisingly declared that a competitor, not her own company, was the best source of driving directions.
"I don't use Yahoo Maps, I use Google Maps," she divulged at an investor conference. "I'm just telling you."
Bartz is just one more loyal user of Google Maps, which became the most popular U.S. map service this year, surpassing the long-time leader, AOL's MapQuest. Since introducing online maps in 2005, Google has invested heavily in the product and transformed it into a cornerstone of its online empire.
Hardly a week goes by without some new feature being added to Google Maps, or its close cousin, Google Earth, a 3-D mapping service that allows users to zoom between city buildings, over the Grand Canyon and along the sea floor. Never before have so many people had such easy access to so much geographic information.
Google Maps had 40.6 million unique visitors in February, slightly ahead of MapQuest's 40 million, according to comScore.
Ascending to the top ranking in U.S. maps counters the argument that Google, despite its success, is a one-trick pony. Long the dominant search engine -- but little else -- Google is now making strides in other areas, including e-mail, where it is fourth but rising quickly.
"Google has solidified its name in the mapping space like it has in the search space," said Danny Sullivan, editor of Search Engine Land.
John Hanke, director of Google Maps and Earth, calls maps a good base for layering a variety of information, dovetailing Google's mission to organize all of the world's information. Not just a tool for getting driving directions, Google's arsenal of mapping products has evolved into a source for photos, reference material about prominent places and for maps created by users to indicate everything from tennis courts to their favorite bars.
Underscoring the quick pace of development, the company made a series of announcements over the past few weeks to upgrade its maps by adding two new countries to StreetView, its program that creates a block-by-block photo portrait of cities across the globe. It also gave greater prominence to maps created by users for places like Tajikistan, Cambodia and Bolivia, where reliable maps are otherwise unavailable.
Google built its maps business largely on its 2004 acquisition of Keyhole, a satellite mapping service that Hanke founded. He had avoided shutting down the startup several times after money ran out, and ultimately decided to sell it so that the service could attract a wider audience and tap into Google's vast resources.
The bigger possibilities became clear in an early conversation Hanke had with Google co-founder Sergey Brin about licensing satellite images for a couple hundred cities. After asking how much more imagery was available, Brin summarily declared, "I think we should get it all," flummoxing Hanke, who was used to skimping just to get by.
Prior to starting Keyhole, Hanke founded two video game companies. Before that, he worked for the federal government -- in foreign affairs, as he put it -- but declined to offer more details.
Google Maps and Earth operate on two floors at the company's Mountain View, Calif. headquarters, in an office decorated with posters of some of the geographic wonders that can be viewed using the service. Cars outfitted with a bizarre crown of cameras for taking StreetView photos have reserved parking spaces outside.
On a recent day, Tilman Reinhardt, who is part of the Google Earth team, was creating 3-D buildings on his computer screen, preparing to create a 3-D likeness of a Japanese city on Google Earth. An Ikea store with the chain's unmistakable blue and yellow color scheme stood out against a backdrop of faux skyscrapers, echoing several other cities that are already available in 3-D.
Earth, which had 9.8 million U.S. users in February, according to Nielsen Online, is infused with more ancillary information than Maps and is available through a software download. Like Maps, Earth has been on a torrid pace. Last month, a software update enabled users to explore underwater.
Earlier this month, Google showed off some of the fruits of a deal it cut with commercial satellite company GeoEye that will provide higher resolution aerial imagery for much of the globe.
"If you had asked me in 2004 whether we would have so much data today, I would have been shocked that we would," Hanke said.
Greg Sterling, principal of Sterling Market Intelligence, said Google's advantage is its large investment in maps and constant innovation. Rivals Yahoo and MapQuest stopped spending at around the time Google entered the field, and they suffered for it, he said.
E-mail Verne Kopytoff at vkopytoff(at)sfchronicle.com.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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