Technologizer

Local Search
Google Maps is one of my favorite Google services, and arguably the one other than basic Web search where Google’s approach to user interfaces has been most effective. It’s also among the company’s most-imitated products: The local search services from Microsoft, Yahoo, Ask, and others all clone the basic idea.

Before Google Maps came along, of course, Mapquest was the gold standard in maps and local info. Even today, it’s struggling to get to where Google Maps has been for years. Local search would have been significant no matter what, but I think it’s quite possible that we wouldn’t have gotten to today’s map-driven approach to things so quickly sans Google.

Then there’s Google Earth. This one’s easy: It would have existed with or without Google, since it began as a product from a company called KeyHole, which Google acquired in 2004. KeyHole’s software was mindblowing even before Google got into the act. But Google instantly did something with it that was mindblowing at the time: It reduced the price to…nothing. That got the software in front of far more people than would have ever tried it if it had remained a for-pay application from a small company.

Google has also invested massive resources in beefing up both Google Maps and Google Earth, including efforts such as Google Street View and its photos taken by roving vans. Just this weekend, a satellite went up to supply Google with imagery for its mapping products. Nobody else as interested in local search as Google is has poured so much money into making it better. (Google Street View was preceded by a feature in Amazon’s A9.com search engine that was virtually identical–but Amazon gave up before it had photographed more than a few areas.) As with many other areas, Google’s combination of wild ambition and bushels of cash has let it push ideas that would have existed anyhow further than they might have gone.

Video
This one seems pretty simple on the surface. Google didn’t really figure out video until it bought YouTube, which was trouncing Google Video at the time. It’s done a nice job of integrating YouTube with other Google services, but none of the integration has been profound in any way.

But wait a minute–YouTube clearly borrowed ideas from Google in the first place, such as its search-driven interface. The company also borrowed Google’s willingness to concentrate on making a good product first, then figuring out how to make money from it later. Video would surely be important on the Web in 2008 no matter what, but YouTube, like countless successful Web companies, owes a large debt to Google as an example. That would be true even if Google hadn’t ended up buying YouTube and making the relationship official.

Social Networking
Really easy: Google started a service called Orkut that wasn’t the first social network and is dominant in only a few places, such as Brazil. Yes, MySpace and Facebook (especially Facebook) riff on ideas that originated with Google. But a world without Google would likely still have had MySpace and Facebook in something damn close to their current incarnations.

Other Products
Google has an astounding array of services beyond the ones I’ve written about…and for the most part, they’re either non-revolutionary or it’s too early to tell if they’re going to revolutionize anything. A few quick notes on some of them:

–It’s certainly possible that Google Apps will end up replacing Microsoft Office as the world’s dominant office suite. Hasn’t happened yet, though. And Apps builds on ideas that other companies came up with (ThinkFree was taking on Office almost a decade ago) and is built on the technologies of companies that Google acquired, such as Writely.

–Google Health could change the world, but it’s a long way from doing so. And even if it does some day, predecessors such as WebMD will deserve at least as much credit, giving that they originated ideas seen in Google’ health product.

–Of everything that Google does, Google Book Search may be the project with the highest potential to change the world–wouldn’t it be cool if every book ever published was available online?–and the lowest payoff to date. I remain hopeful that we’ll eventually look back on it as something profound that might not have existed if Google hadn’t devoted so much energy to making it happen;

–Chrome could be profoundly important. Right now, though, it’s just an intriguing-but-unfinished browser.

Then there’s another category of Google service: Companies it’s bought and done little or nothing with. For instance, it bought Jaiku and Dodgeball. Both are kinda like Twitter…but it’s Twitter that’s the huge hit. Not only would a world without Google still have had Twitter; it might have had an independent Jaiku and Dodgeball that were more successful.