Should Snapchat Should Buy A Mapping Company?

I think if Snapchat bought a mapping company it would boost its stock price and long term product vision? SNAP stock price is down 20% since the IPO and I think the product is not user friendly enough.

Social media companies like Facebook and Twitter still have done a poor job of using maps to help their users communicate.  Snap has a real opportunity to do something different in the mapping space that is still fairly underserved in social media.  Google+ could have used maps in their product as well and they blew this opportunity.  There are so many small mapping companies that could help them build an amazing product.

Google Crisis Emergency Map Could Save Your Life

Google Crisis Map Data Layers

Who has used Google Crisis Map?  This map doesn't seem very well known or widely used or sourced by the public or news media?  The data on the map could potentially save your life especially if you are traveling to an area that you are not familiar with. Knowing the details of what is going on in that area can be incredibly valuable.  I don't think weather apps and websites convey this information properly consumers on a map such as: fires, air quality, tropical storms, potential flash floods, tornadoes, wind, hail, volcanos can save your life.  I would like to see a lot more public safety data added to this map like cell phone coverage and hazardous locations. 

Here is just some of the data that Google Crisis Map aggregates below and the source of the data. 

Weather, Hazards, Emergency Preparedness Published by Google Crisis Response Public Alerts Emergency information including evacuation notices for hurricanes, storm warnings, earthquakes, and more. Source: weather.gov, earthquake.usgs.gov, wcatwc.arh.noaa.gov, nixle.com, missingkids.com, and others. Clouds Source: NRL Last updated: 6:03 AM (58 minutes ago) Traffic & Transit Traffic alerts from waze.com users Zoom to area Waze Live Map Source: Waze.com Carolinas Zoom to area Florida Zoom to area Current Traffic Speeds Evacuation Resources US Hurricane Evacuation Routes Zoom to area · View data Routes of evacuation as collected by FEMA (HSIP Gold 2010). Source: FEMA US Storm Reports Zoom to area · Source: National Weather Service (NOAA-NWS) Last updated: 6:55 AM (5 minutes ago) Overview of latest disaster alerts Zoom to area · Source: Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System (GDACS) Last updated: 7:00 AM (1 minute ago) Storm Information Map layers related to US Hurricanes and Storms. High wind probability Zoom to area ·  Probability of sustained (1-minute) surface (10-meter altitude) wind speeds equal to or exceeding 39 mph (tropical storm force). Learn more. Source: National Hurricane Center. Last updated: May 11, 2017 US Tropical Storms - Forecast Location This layer currently contains nothing to show on the map. 3-Day Forecast Cone(s) of active Tropical Storms and Hurricanes. See also: 5-day Forecast Cone(s)Source: NOAA-National Hurricane Center Last updated: 6:33 AM (27 minutes ago) US Tropical Storms -- Current Location Zoom to area · Current location(s) of active Tropical Storms and Hurricanes. See also: Historical tracks Source: NOAA-National Hurricane Center Last updated: 6:33 AM (27 minutes ago) US Tropical Storms -- Forecast Track Zoom to area ·Source: NOAA-National Hurricane Center Last updated: 6:33 AM (27 minutes ago) Ocean observations Zoom to area · Source: IOOS, et al. Aggregation by SECOORA Last updated: 7:00 AM (1 minute ago) Hardware & Lumber Stores Flooding-related Air Quality Air Quality -- Current Conditions Zoom to area ·  Source: EPA AirNow. Last updated: May 18, 2016 Air Quality -- Tomorrow's Forecast Zoom to area · Source: EPA AirNow Last updated: May 18, 2016 Hourly combined ozone and PM2.5 Zoom to area · Source: EPA AirNow Last updated: Feb 23, 2016 Hourly PM2.5 Zoom to area ·  Source: EPA AirNow Last updated: Feb 23, 2016 Hourly ozone Zoom to area ·  Source: EPA AirNow Last updated: Feb 23, 2016 Wildfire Preparedness InciWeb Wildfire Information Zoom to area · Source: InciWeb.org US Active Fire Perimeters California Statewide Fire Map Zoom to area · Source: CAL FIRE. Approximate locations of major fires burning in California. Some fires are not under the jurisdiction of CAL FIRE. Preparedness Supplies

Syndicated Maps Data Marketplace

Soft Launch of New Data Marketplace

Soft launch of our new site and data marketplace we launched yesterday. We are offering a 50% discount for the anyone who purchases within the next 48 hours. Syndicatedmaps.com

Still testing the platform so we appreciate your feedback and suggestions!

What Is The Best Data Marketplace or API for Selling / Sharing Map Data?

Does anyone know what the best data marketplace is for selling / licensing geospatial map data?  I have been looking for resources like this for years.  

Google Maps Marketplaces was developing a product like this and then scrapped it just to integrate this data into their Places product.  

ESRI has a marketplace to showcase data but there is no transactional engine to actually license the data.  

MapBox has a large map developer community but does not seem interested in creating. 

Carto seems like they could be the best company to make this happen with their data analysis products. 

Open Street Maps is an "open" platform of data but doesn't have a premium solution for developers like us who have worked for years to aggregate data sets to be compensated for data licensing.

The map market needs a solution where any data provider can upload or use a hosted map.  This data is then accessible via a map API by other developers and users.  The usage of the data is tracked and then billed directly through the system.  

Please let us know if anyone has such a solution.  

Google Finally Allows Fair Auction for Header Bidding Ad Networks

Google Removes Its 'Last-Look' Auction Advantage. The "last-look" advantage Google’s ad server gave to Google's ad exchange so bothered publishers and exchanges that it gave rise to header bidding. As of this week, that advantage is no more!

Previously, AdX would wait for all those other exchanges to submit their bids, and then give itself a chance to outbid the winner. So if Google’s exchange had two bids of $1 and $5, it would be able to beat a $4 bid from an outside exchange. Under the new auction rules, it would submit a bid of $1 (the second price) and lose the auction.

Here's how the programmatic auction will work: All EBDA exchange participants – including Index Exchange, Rubicon Project, PubMatic, Sovrn, Smaato and Gamut – submit their final bids. The DoubleClick AdExchange (AdX) also submits its final bid. And the best price wins.   Read more.

What is the Best Header Bidding Solution?

We get emails daily from ad networks or people who say they are an ad network offering solutions to raise CPM's.  As a small publisher it is very difficult to understand what ad networks actually offer a competitive service to Google Ad Sense.

What is the best header bidding solution for a small publishers? Is it better to go with multiple ad networks or just one like Appnexus or Pubmatic?

Over the last 10 years I have watched our traffic increase steadily by 15%+ per year.  However, our advertising revenue from Google and Media.net has stayed fairly flat and not increased much at all.   Is this because Google is continually taking a bigger piece of the revenue share?

We have heard that header bidding is a solutions that can increase CPM's by 2x or 3x depending on the traffic.  Is this true for someone is a niche map crowdsourcing publishing space?

Please email me if you have a solutions or suggestions.