Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

Google is planning to license new map data to a range of companies to develop renewable energy products, which it hopes to generate as much as $100 million in its first year.

According to the leaked materials, Google plans to sell access to a new API (application programming interface) that includes solar energy, energy information and air quality.

In a sample customer list, Google's new products will include solar API, which can be used by solar installers such as SunRun and Tesla Energy and solar designers such as Aurora Solar. Google also sees opportunities for partnerships with real estate companies such as Zillow and Redfin, hotel companies such as Marriott Hotels, and utility companies such as PG&E.

Some of the data for Solar API will come from a consumer-oriented pilot project called Project Sunroof, a solar energy-saving calculator that was first launched in 2015. The plan allows users to enter addresses to obtain estimated solar costs, such as electricity savings and the size of solar devices required. It also provides 3D models of roofs of buildings and nearby trees based on Google Maps data.

Google plans to sell API access to individual building data, as well as aggregate data for all buildings in a particular city or county. Google says it has data on more than 350 million buildings, far more than the 60 million mentioned by Project Sunroof in 2017, according to the documents.

An internal document estimates that Google's solar API will generate between $90 million and $100m (currently about Rmb656 million-729 million) in its first year of launch. The document also mentions that it is possible to connect with Google's cloud products in the future.

At the same time, Google plans to release an air quality API that allows customers to request location-specific air quality data, such as pollutants and health-based advice. The API will also include a digital heat map of the data, hourly air quality information, and a 30-day air quality history.

Google didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Google's move is an attempt to cash in its mapping products under the pressure of an overall economic slowdown. While Google is committed to improving efficiency, it is also investing in new technologies such as generative artificial intelligence and sustainability, which it hopes to use to expand the market in its solar API project.

Currently, Google has licensed its navigation map API to companies such as Uber. Uber said in 2019 that it had paid $58 million to Google in three years. Map API's revenue goes to Google's cloud business, which finally turned a profit in the first quarter of this year, but did not go well in competition with market leaders Amazon and Microsoft.

Google does not disclose the specific revenues of its maps business, but according to Brian Nowak, an analyst at Morgan Stanley, Google Maps has been one of Google's least profitable products. Morgan Stanley has estimated that Google Maps will generate revenue of $11.1 billion (currently about 80.919 billion yuan) so far this year with the increase of new tourism products and promotional tags.

Google's plan to sell map data comes at a time when the company is trying to streamline its mapping products. In June, the media found that Google was laying off employees of Waze, a free traffic navigation app, and merging it with the Google Maps team. Waze was acquired by Google in 2013.

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