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Google Maps & World Bank Join Forces, So Why Isn't Everyone Smiling?

Google is now working with the World Bank to make Google Map Maker more accessible to government organizations, but some experts are questioning the terms of the arrangement. The World Bank is an international money-lending and development assistance organization, which grew out of the need to rebuild Europe after World War II. Today, it provides financial support and technical assistance to developing countries or nations in crisis. According to the announcement on the Google Lat Long Blog , the World Bank will be a "conduit to make Google Map Maker source data more widely and easily available to government organizations in the event of major disasters, and also for improved planning, management, and monitoring of public services provision." http://mashable.com/2012/01/19/google-maps-world-bank/

“Information submitted by the public through Google Map Maker (‘Hey, there’s a clinic over here!’) is not available for easy reuse by the public,” wrote Nathaniel Heller, Managing Director of Global Integrity, an organization which promotes transparency and accountability in government.

I’m not a lawyer, but Google’s deal is basically, ‘Give us your data, we’ll do with it what we want, and don’t you dare try to do anything else with that data,’” he said. by pattychanman Jan 22

According to the announcement on the Google Lat Long Blog, the World Bank will be a “conduit to make Google Map Maker source data more widely and easily available to government organizations in the event of major disasters, and also for improved planning, management, and monitoring of public services provision.”

The Map Maker data includes mounds of information that’s important to relief or emergency workers, development experts and urban planners. Some of the countries that will be launching the new program include Ghana, Kenya, South Sudan, Nepal and Haiti, countries that represent a wide range of economic statuses. by pattychanman Jan 22

With its $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility , Google has shown that it is ready to take its investment in mobile to the next level. It's important to remember, however, that Motorola Mobility does more than just make smartphones. Ostensibly, Google's decision to purchase Motorola has as much to do with increasing its patent portfolio as it is about getting into the hardware market, with Google already committing to running Motorola as a separate business . Still, we find it hard to believe that Google will just ignore the opportunity to potentially better couple its Android operating system with Motorola-produced tablets or smartphones. Google-Motorola Could Give Google TV a Fighting Chance

Why the Google-Motorola Deal Is About More Than Mobile Phones

http://mashable.com/2011/08/15/google-motorola-google-tv/

DOJ Approves Google's Motorola Purchase

http://mashable.com/2012/02/13/doj-approves-google-motorola-deal/ The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) approved Google‘s proposed acquisition of Motorola Mobility Monday afternoon. Earlier on Monday, Google announced via its corporate blog that the European Union had approved the $12.5 billion deal as well. The two major milestones make Google’s acquisition of Motorola all but certain. The deal will enable Google to produce its own line of smartphones to go with its immensely popular Android platform. Motorola is one of the leading producers of Android-based phones, and holds one of the mobile industry’s largest collections of patents.