We spent a couple hours today, like everyone else who uses the Google Maps API, trying to understand if this morning’s rollout of KML support and MyMaps was an opportunity or a crisis.

Pundits say the sky is falling.  Others who actually have something at stake (like other people’s money) are saying it’s almost a non-event.  The sky is in its place, but when the The Big G shakes things up in your vicinity, there are going to be some consequences.

So, yes, we use Google Maps on our site, and location-based information is a major part of what we offer on Spotstory.  But honestly, the map, though neat, is not the whole ball of wax.  (In fact, once the novelty of getting a map to display wore off, it became a smaller part of the Spotstory concept, if not in screen real estate.)  The site contains neutral point of view information, personal observations, tagging, photo sharing, comments, social networking, syndication, and more.

But, enough of the brave face.  What’s the real impact of Google Maps’ new features on Spotstory?

First, the good news.  The KML support is a good thing: Google released a better search engine for us today.  Now, we just have to understand how to best take advantage of this for our users.

Then there is MyMaps.  Aron and I often come back to a particular point when discussing Spotstory: if we have great content, a lot of problems are just going to solve themselves.  Today was another one of those discussions.

With MyMaps, Google becomes another place to create and store content.   Will that content end up being extremely useful, MySpacey, or just plain spam?  We’ll see.  Do we wish we didn’t have to add Google to the long list of others competing for that content?  Yes!

Our challenge is the same as it has always been: to attract folks and give them a great community and environment to create Spots (and Tours and Visits.)  Google is keeping us honest.  We have to do things that innovate and add value or we’ll, deservedly, wither and die.

Google Maps is an important piece of many web offerings.  If Google is going to continue to evolve Maps–and why wouldn’t they?–they will undoubtedly overtake and make redundant some of the things others have built on their platform.  It’s our job to stay ahead of them, or find ways to serve audiences too small for them, etc.

So, there is some good, and there is some bad.  Certainly, we’re not hoping for more surprises like today’s, but the truth is that for a tiny company like us (and all companies, I’m sure) there is always something unexpected, negative, unhelpful, or anxiety-inducing to work through!  You work through it.

We spent a couple hours today, like everyone else who uses the Google Maps API, trying to understand if this morning’s rollout of KML support and MyMaps was an opportunity or a crisis.

Pundits say the sky is falling.  Others who actually have something at stake (like other people’s money) are saying it’s almost a non-event.  The sky is in its place, but when the The Big G shakes things up in your vicinity, there are going to be some consequences.

So, yes, we use Google Maps on our site, and location-based information is a major part of what we offer on Spotstory.  But honestly, the map, though neat, is not the whole ball of wax.  (In fact, once the novelty of getting a map to display wore off, it became a smaller part of the Spotstory concept, if not in screen real estate.)  The site contains neutral point of view information, personal observations, tagging, photo sharing, comments, social networking, syndication, and more.

But, enough of the brave face.  What’s the real impact of Google Maps’ new features on Spotstory?

First, the good news.  The KML support is a good thing: Google released a better search engine for us today.  Now, we just have to understand how to best take advantage of this for our users.

Then there is MyMaps.  Aron and I often come back to a particular point when discussing Spotstory: if we have great content, a lot of problems are just going to solve themselves.  Today was another one of those discussions.

With MyMaps, Google becomes another place to create and store content.   Will that content end up being extremely useful, MySpacey, or just plain spam?  We’ll see.  Do we wish we didn’t have to add Google to the long list of others competing for that content?  Yes!

Our challenge is the same as it has always been: to attract folks and give them a great community and environment to create Spots (and Tours and Visits.)  Google is keeping us honest.  We have to do things that innovate and add value or we’ll, deservedly, wither and die.

Google Maps is an important piece of many web offerings.  If Google is going to continue to evolve Maps–and why wouldn’t they?–they will undoubtedly overtake and make redundant some of the things others have built on their platform.  It’s our job to stay ahead of them, or find ways to serve audiences too small for them, etc.

So, there is some good, and there is some bad.  Certainly, we’re not hoping for more surprises like today’s, but the truth is that for a tiny company like us (and all companies, I’m sure) there is always something unexpected, negative, unhelpful, or anxiety-inducing to work through!  You work through it.