Google is inviting various media organizations to see “the next dimension of Google Maps” at an event next week in San Francisco.
And the timing is just as interesting as what Google plans to show. The event will take place on June 6th, just days before Apple is expected to ditch Google Maps during its June 11 keynote at the Apple WWDC event (also in San Francisco).
The Maps app that’s on iOS now uses Google Maps, but pales in comparison to the experience that Google Maps offers on Android and the desktop. Apple has been acquiring mapping technology companies over the past few years, and has already started moving away from Google Maps in its iPhoto software.
Enter next week’s Google event. It doesn’t appear to be a specific product announcement, but rather a big picture preview of what Google has in store for Google Maps. As the invite says:
At this invitation-only press gathering, Brian McClendon, VP of Google Maps and Google Earth, will give you a behind-the-scenes look at Google Maps and share our vision. We’ll also demo some of the newest technology and provide a sneak peek at upcoming features that will help people get where they want to go – both physically and virtually. We hope to see you there.
In other words, the plan is essentially to show Apple (and Apple users) what’s coming down the road — what it’ll be missing when Apple replaces Google Maps with its own map product.
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