Yet another facet of competition in the software + services space -- it's increasingly obvious that Google (and Microsoft and Yahoo) are going to consolidate/commoditize several social software domains that are currently being pioneered by smaller players.
Google isn't alone in this area. Microsoft Corp.'s Live Search Maps service and IAC/InterActive Corp's Ask City service allow users to annotate maps and share them with friends. Yahoo Inc.'s travel service lets users plot their trips on maps and its Flickr photo service allows users to plot locations where photos were taken.
With My Maps, consumers can easily mark places on maps with virtual pushpins and link them to video clips on Google's YouTube and Video services and photos stored on the Web. Users can type notes and include links to other Web sites at each location, and draw lines or shapes to signal paths or areas. Google will include consumers' maps in its Maps search results, unless users elect to keep them private.
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