On Monday morning, version 1.4 of Sunrise hit the iOS App Store and with it comes even more useful integration features that help make Sunrise an easy-to-use, all-encompassing, dynamic snapshot of your day.

In addition to integrating Facebook, Google Calendar and LinkedIn into the app (and local weather and birthdays) Sunrise is adding two more: Foursquare and Crunchbase.

The Foursquare integration is no surprise: Sunrise founders Pierre Valade and Jeremy Le Van are former Foursquare designers. What this will mean for Sunrise users is that check-ins to the Foursquare app on your iPhone will show up retroactively on your Sunrise calendar. So if you ended up at a great late-night spot you can’t remember the name of — but you checked in on Foursquare — if you look back at Sunrise for that day, you’ll see where you were and when.

The Crunchbase integration is aimed at business users. The database of companies will be available right inside the app. So if you’ve entered the name of the company you’re meeting with in Sunrise it will call up additional data about that person/company without forcing you to leave the app.

There’s also going to be a slightly better way of displaying Google Maps information: instead of selecting your meeting’s location and getting pushed out to the Google Maps app, you can now see the location on a map right inside Sunrise.

It’s a small update overall, but I like how quickly the team responded to Apple’s notable advance in native calendaring.

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This is the second billion dollar exit where Facebook lost out. In case of Tumblr, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg offered around $500 million to David Karp, but Marissa Mayer charmed Karp and, of course, more than doubled the money she was willing to pay for Tumblr. It was rumored that Facebook were in the running to buy Waze, but couldn’t pull the trigger.

Actually, selling to Google (or anyone else) was actually the only outcome for this company — even though it had tens of millions of people using the software in dozens of countries worldwide, it would have been pretty hard for them to turn social commuting into a real business. Google, on the other hand, can simply layer this on its maps and try and use the data to drive more real world transactions.

As I pointed out in a post about the new Google Maps, Google will ultimately create more natural advertising formats for maps-driven interfaces and Waze helps them towards that objective. That said, it is a great exhale for Waze’s investors, who were facing the prospect of building a real business — a much harder proposition than most in Silicon Valley understand or are willing to admit.

The big winners in this deal are investors that include Magma Ventures, Blue Run Ventures and Vertex Ventures, who were earliest backers of the company. Sources say they each made well north of $100 million from the deal. The surprise (and ironic) winner might be Microsoft, which is rumored to have invested in the company as a strategic investor.

The company had raised $12 million in its Series A funding in early 2008 and was valued at around $20 million at that time. It snagged another $25 million Series B funding in November 2010 and was valued at just under $100 million after that round of funding. The company received cash from Qualcomm Ventures and Microsoft in addition to other internal investors.

Horizon Ventures and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers were the last money into the company, but they too have made a nice chunk of change on this deal. In October 2011, the company received another $30 million in funding from Horizon Ventures and Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers at a pretty hefty valuation – around $250 million, according to sources.

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One of the underwater Streetview cameras, on display at Google I/O.

Google launched Streetview for the world’s oceans in cooperation with Underwater Earth the at the end of last year, and has mapped a total of six sites so far, including the Great Barrier Reef in Australia as well as reefs in Hawaii and the Philippines. Vevers explained that his organization’s Catlin Seaview Survey has been using divers carrying custom-made cameras that shoot photos every three seconds, with divers being able to cover about two kilometers during every expedition.

That’s slow — maybe too slow. The world’s coral reefs are receding quickly, which has been one of the main motivations behind the project. “We set up our project to reveal the reefs of the world,” Vevers said, adding: “People don’t want to protect anything they can’t see.”

However, Verers said showing off the beauty of coral reefs to the world is only “half the story.” The project has also been working on image recognition technologies, with the goal of mapping species and giving scientists around the world access to new material to work with.

So why did Google get involved with the project? Foulkes said that it wasn’t driven by commercial motivations, but freely admitted that it was also about showing off the capabilities of Google Maps. One example: Vevers’ team uses Google’s business photos tool, which is meant to give stores the ability to upload panoramic photos, to create its underwater photospheres.

Vevers’ plan is to capture and reveal all of the world’s coral reefs within the next three years. “We feel this is very much a race against time,” he said. That’s why the project now wants to enlist amateurs in its quest as well. Divers can simply use their cell phones in water-proof cases and then upload their photospheres to Google Maps. And he urged volunteers to become active soon: “What happens in the next ten years is likely going to affect our oceans fo the next 10,000 years.”

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It remains to be seen whether Google really manages to pull this off in an uncluttered way, particularly on smartphones, but the changes do look promising. However, Google’s mobile maps do present one problem, particularly for those travelling in foreign climes, and that doesn’t look set to change anytime soon: they only offer limited offline functionality. Maps for specific places can be easily pre-cached for offline use, but you won’t get search or routing functionality without a data connection.

Enter Skobbler with its new Android app, GPS Navigation & Maps. A couple of weeks ago, the Berlin-based startup heavily revamped its iOS ForeverMap app to bring it in line with the more advanced Android version of the same, and now it’s moved the Android app on significantly – so significantly that it’s even renamed it.

All in one

To be precise, Skobbler’s new Android app combines two previous apps, one of which was for maps (ForeverMap 2, whose users will get this upgrade for free) and the other (Skobbler Navigation, shut down a year back) for turn-by-turn navigation. The company claims, rightly I believe, that the result is the only Android app to combine both these functionalities for both online and offline use. What’s more, open-stuff fans can revel in the fact that GPS Navigation & Maps is based on the crowdsourced and highly accurate OpenStreetMap project.

The fact that the app is priced at just $1 shouldn’t hurt either, although buyers should be aware that this comes with only one free downloadable country for offline use. Beyond that, cities will cost $0.99, states $1.11, countries $2.22, continents $4.44 and the whole world $7.77 – not only is this way cheaper than the likes of TomTom Navigation or CoPilot Live, but it also provides the opportunity to download specific areas rather than entire countries or continents: a useful option if you’re concerned about storage.

A separate free version gives you full online maps for the world, along with a 14-day trial of the turn-by-turn, voice-aided navigation functionality.

Skobbler’s iOS maps app allows you to download any country for offline use for free, but turn-by-turn functionality comes in a separate app on that platform. Like that app, though, GPS Navigation & Maps acts as a showcase for Skobbler’s zippy NGx map engine – the company is keen on selling its technology to partners, particularly those in the automotive industry.

Anti-Google opportunity?

Skobbler’s app has clear appeal for those travelling abroad – data roaming charges are still eye-bleedingly high in most cases – but what about customers who are just looking to use it locally?

There, the company may find a willing audience in the shape of the anti-Google resistance. One peculiarity of Android is that, being Linux-based and ubiquitous, it’s the platform of choice for the open-source crowd while also providing a growing privacy threat, of the kind that horrifies the same people.

The mapping updates that Google announced on Wednesday are clearly designed to make Google Maps more of a personalized interface for everyday movements. This should manifest itself in a particularly tightly integrated way on Android, as the lines blur between Maps and Now and everything else Google is baking into the same pie. A lot of people won’t like that.

It’s unlikely that anyone will completely replace Google Maps for Android with a service such as Skobbler’s, as Google’s in-house location infrastructure is probably too baked-in these days to avoid. But, in terms of consciously firing up a mapping app to negotiate the world around them, some people may find value in choosing a non-Google option, so that their often highly personal location searches don’t get fed into the Great Google Data Stew. For those people, GPS Navigation & Maps could provide a tantalizing alternative.

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Jonah Jones, Lead Designer, Google Maps

When compared side by side with early versions of Google Maps, the difference between the maps of 2006 and 2013 is the equivalent to the difference between a Rio MP3 player and an iPod. “We originally created the draggable maps and now we sat down and basically wondered how were we going to reinvent the mapping experience,” said Jonah Jones, lead designer for Google Maps, who has spent the past seven years at Google working on maps. “It wasn’t as much dissatisfaction with the current maps, but more about how we can do this better.”

The new Google Maps marries data, social and the concept of hyper-personalization, tastefully layering those principles on top of beautiful and detail-rich maps. Google used the popular Google Earth app to enhance the Google Maps experience itself.

In doing so, Google is acknowledging that today we live on a much faster internet; we work on personal computers that have a lot more muscle and as consumers we have an expectation that everything should be personal to us. “There was more and more information which was being layered on the maps and we wanted to simplify and personalize that,” Jones said. “We think this is what next generation of what mapping looks like.”

Instead of delivering graphic tiles that have traditionally made up the base layer of a map, Google now uses vector maps and is using data as a stream, processing it on the graphical processing unit (GPU) of the new fangled computers and creating a brand new map, which is personalized not just based on a Google account. Like a chameleon, it changes personality and redraws itself based on what you want to focus on — venues, driving directions or recommendations.

It’s about the data stupid

And though it will be sometime before the new maps offering finds its way from the desktop and Google’s Chrome browser to the mobile devices, it really is the sign of the times and where mapping is headed. Since the introduction of Google Maps, Microsoft, Nokia and Apple have all introduced maps and mapping products. The enthusiasm of these technology giants for mapping is best described by Foursquare’s Dennis Crowley when he says maps are the bridge between our physical and digital worlds.

He is right. While Crowley has always wanted to build Harry Potter’s magical map, it seems Google has built something for today. “Maps is the interface,” said Bernhard Seefeld, Google Maps Product Management Director, who pointed out that the passive information alone makes the new maps richer and deeper.

Bernhard Seefeld, Google Maps Product Management Director

It takes a few seconds to realize that the key to these new maps is interweaving various disparate streams of data — from restaurant reviews to places of interest to transit maps. The usage of the maps — especially when logged into Google — is going to make the experience of the maps better.

It is pretty obvious that data is going to be a key part of building user experience in tomorrow’s apps and the new Google Maps is a good early example of that. For instance, when plotting a route, the new Maps shows you all options — walking/biking, public transit and driving — and highlights the time it will take you to get there using different routes. It also tells you when the next bus or subway is going to come.

You can do all of that on Google Maps today, but this is now just a simple, one click experience. It seems after years and years of collecting data, Google is finally putting that data to work.

Little things that matter

Search is front and center of this new product. The big, bold graphical interface is inviting and attractive. The new Google Maps web app is packed with dozens of minute but important design improvements that are meant to make using maps immersive and simple. In its official blog post announcing the new product, the company’s spokesperson writes:

In addition to a customized map, we’ve also made it easier to find and discover the best local places. Search results are labeled directly on the map with brief descriptions and icons that highlight business categories and other useful information like restaurants that are recommended by your Google+ friends. Info cards provide helpful information such as business hours, ratings and reviews so you can quickly decide where to eat, drink and play.

I got a chance to take a closer look at Google Maps before today’s launch and was impressed by the subtle design touches. For instance, the new maps takes a lot of inspiration from old print maps (in an atlas) where the changing landscape and different bodies of water (lakes, rivers, seas and oceans) had different hues. The colors of the mountains, deserts, plains and grasslands were different in those maps. Google has taken some of those elements and incorporated them in their new maps.

There are more subtle changes: the fonts are different, cleaner and more legible. When you plot a route, the roads taken become more prominent while the rest of the map fades into the background. Smaller bylanes that are unmarked become more prominent and their names legible. Yes, these are little things, but when you are lost, these little things matter. (We’ll be diving into the little design things that matter at our RoadMap event in November in San Francisco — sign up here to get first access to our tickets that will go on sale this Summer).

For instance, there is a carousel at the bottom of the screen that brings together all sorts of images — Street View, Business Photos and Photo Tours — and gives you an easy view into the venue or location you might be visiting. These stitched together photo tours are pretty awe-inspiring and in some cases you feel like you are almost there. This stitching together is based on proprietary Google technology. And then there is the whole Google Earth 3D app packed right into the Google Maps (as long as you are using a WebGL compliant browser.) Just play with it and you will know what I am saying.

Of course, this is Google, so it has to be about the ads. Even the ads are native and tightly integrated into the overall offering — not offensive, intrusive or out of place. The focus is on more action-oriented advertising such as making hotel reservations. Even in a few minutes it became obvious that there is a certain blurring of the lines between what is actual information and what is advertising. I guess, that suits Google’s mercantile goals.

Privacy nightmare?

While Google likes to say that it will have our “friend’s recommendations” and social signals in the new apps, in all honesty they are unlikely to have that information. I don’t use Google+ and neither do others who are happily poking away on Facebook.

What Google will do, however is use brute force machine power to make best guesses about our likes and favorites, and in doing so, they will make the same mistake others make: they will have built a product that lacks empathy.

Google, for instance will know where we live and where we work — after all, we are going to mark those spots and use those markers to find things to do and roads to drive on. It will also know where we are going, how we are going there and when we are going. And this brings up the same privacy issues I have with Facebook and its Home (and other mobile apps.)  And just like my ongoing skepticism of Facebook’s ability to do the right thing, I am pretty sure Google is going to put profit before people. That conversation is for another day, perhaps.

So what do I think?

Ever since Google search was integrated into the browser, I have lost a reason to go to do search on Google.com. But I am very likely to make the new Google Maps as my starting point on Google.com. While a 15-minute demo doesn’t mean a hit product, it is safe to say that this is a worthy upgrade and it showcases Google’s core competencies: putting its big infrastructure and data to work. It also highlights that when it comes to mapping, Apple is not even close to catching up.

What is more disappointing is that the new Google mapping experience isn’t available on the mobile devices as maps are more useful when on the go. Let’s just hope we don’t have to wait eight years for the mobile version of these new Maps.

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The end result is that Nook HD users will have access to a broader media ecosystem, but the move seems a bit odd for a company that has a strategic partnership with Microsoft. However, Jim Hilt, B&N’s VP of ebooks, said the move only shows that Barnes & Noble remains committed to the Android platform. The company has done a “tremendous amount of work with Windows 8,” he said, and the decision to further integrate with Google is “consistent with our business, which has always been to bring the Nook reading or content service to all the platforms available.”

Google Play also sells ebooks and digital magazines, but Hilt said that B&N isn’t worried about that: “We’re incredibly confident that when people pick up a Nook device, they’re going to use the Nook shopping experience.”

Nook Video, which sells movies and TV shows à la carte, will continue, the company said.

Current Nook HD owners will receive an over-the-air update to their devices.

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ForeverMap provides both online and offline mapping functionality, based on OpenStreetMap. The first iteration used a much older version of Skobbler’s technology and required the user to download a rather hefty 1.5GB of data covering all territories, regardless of where they intended to use the app.

The new version, ForeverMap 2, has been available for Android since November, but is now also out there for iPhone and iPad. It aims to provide the best of both online and offline worlds – to allow proper offline search and routing, unlike Google Maps, and to allow online functionality, unlike travel apps such as CityMaps2Go. Its coverage is global, and users can choose to download offline maps on a per-country basis.

“We know that modern users want one map that handles all of their needs, and we believe we’ve delivered this with a genuinely innovative hybrid solution based on the popular, rich and dynamic OpenStreetMap,” Skobbler CTO Philipp Kandal said in a statement.

However, while ForeverMap2 is a consumer play, it is also a showcase of Skobbler’s GeOS SDK and NGx mapping engine. As co-founder Marcus Thielking told me, it gives the company’s prospective white label clients – who are largely in the automotive business – “a good template” for what they could build on top of the product.

“It’s the perfect pitching tool – we just give it to them and they can see what we can do,” he said. Previously announced customers for Skobbler’s technology include the city guide app outfit Triposo.

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Bahrain, Egypt, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE will get access to the English version of Google Maps for iOS, the company announced on its blog Tuesday. Users will also be able to choose in settings to display directions in miles or kilometers.

In addition, Google has added icons that will appear in search so you can tap them for a quicker way to see nearby bars, coffeeshops, restaurants.

For those heavily invested in Google apps, the update to contacts will probably be the most interesting aspect of this update. Google contacts are now integrated into Maps for iPhone. That means that when you search for an address, if it matches with one in your Google contacts, the contact’s address will show up as a suggestion. That’s instead of having to go to your iPhone Contacts and getting directions from there. For users it can cut out a step and for Google it’s another opportunity to keep its users inside and using its own ecosystem even on the iPhone’s competing platform.

The latest version of Google Maps for iPhone arrived in December, three months after Apple dropped the app from default placement on the iPhone’s homescreen. The move coincided with the introduction of Apple’s own Maps app, which debuted to poor reviews in September.

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Berlin-based Skobbler has a tool called GeOS to help developers more easily incorporate OpenStreetMap (OSM) maps into their services. Given that, and since its own apps such as GPS Navigation 2 also use OSM, it is not surprising to see the company talking up the platform. That said, it has some good points to make about the OSM model’s success.

The key point is that traditional mapping services such as Navteq come out of the automotive GPS market. Google also collects most of its data by driving around. OSM, by way of contrast, is generally better at collecting details that are to be found off-road or by pedestrians.

However, for a service that’s often compared with Wikipedia, contributing to OSM is still a specialist business, limiting the number of active contributors to those with the technical know-how. Indeed, while the million milestone is notable, the number of active monthly contributors is less than 20,000. (This is not that surprising – a very small proportion of Wikipedia’s 18.3 million registered users make regular edits.)

“While reaching one million [contributors] is a major milestone for OSM, it’s still early days in terms of fulfilling its potential,” Skobbler co-founder Marcus Thielking said in a statement. “With 90 percent of the population still realistically unable to participate, we’re expecting easier OSM access to allow everyone and anyone to help increase the success of this amazing modern alternative to conventional mapping.”

The question is, where is that easier access going to come from? Unsurprisingly, Thielking reckons the solution lies in more commercial products using OSM, a shift that would spur demand for more – and more standardized – contributions.

That would benefit Skobbler but it would also be good news for those that already use OSM data. The biggest name there is Apple – the maps in iOS 6 use OSM data for some parts of the world – but others include Foursquare, Craigslist and, of course, Wikipedia.

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