Startup Revolution

Mapillary is a cool idea. Why run up and down city blocks taking pictures when your customers, advocates and contributors could do that for you. What it means to be a MAP is changing fast.

Maps used to be those things you couldn't fold back up. Now maps are evolving into evolving stage sets. You need one "map" when its six pm and time for dinner.

You need another map when you need groceries or toys for Christmas. As the line between virtual and real world collapse "map" is going to take on many new meanings.

With GPS "Map" means place, time and tribe. Why tribe? Because, as FourSquare proved our phones are smart enough to know when our friends' phones are around us.

Phones become living avatars walking a digital landscape by proxy, roads we wold walk if we could TRON-UP and jump into the machine. Since we can't become digital just yet MAP will take on many new meetings.

Extend our new "map thinking" a little further and maps become games, commerce and content. These new "digital maps" will be how we tell time, know and relate to our friends and understand PLACE.

Mapillary sees the future. They know maps are more than those things we used to not be able to fold back up :).