Making Money from Map Mash Ups

Oh, the so often discussed Where 2.0 topic. I found an interesting article on this subject on CNet. Its a little dated, but worth reading:

Mashups for fun and profit

Stand out quotes:

"they're fairly easy to create, and it's not that difficult for someone to duplicate the more successful ones ... You are in fact a reseller of that (mashed up) content."

"visualizing houses or jobs on an online map is merely a feature. But if a Web site shows home values in low-crime areas within a certain price range and with high-scoring elementary schools within 30 minutes of a workplace, then that is an application that could conceivably be monetized"

"The challenge with a mashup is it may not fully hold its own destiny. They are somewhat at the mercy of the open components that the Googles, Yahoos and Microsofts have provided"

Hmmm, worth mulling over me thinks...

FlakeFinder

I'm so behind on blog updates. Today is a multiple entry day. I've been working with Leif at Arkade Magazine; its a free snowboarding magazine distributed in the Western US:

http://www.arkademag.com

Leif wanted to add an interactive map to his site; one which shows ski resort locations and links in resort specific weather, webcams, video, trail maps, up to date snow conditions and depths. The site was launched in January see:

http://www.flakefinder.com

It's work in progress. But this is an open source mash up. It would be very cool done on an international scale ...