Innovation is Assembly

For any business that has managed to create a successful web 2.0 application, there is a means to allow your information to be used by other businesses and increase your business opportunities.

This can be done through the use of API’s. This allows other websites to use your unique features within their own websites. Some famous uses of APIs are Amazon and facebook. Amazon has allowed other shopping companies to use their unique shopping trolley and checkout system to establish their own business. Facebook allows companies to produce facebook apps by using their web systems.

This is referred to as Innovation is Assembly, by which one company has managed to assemble a viable business by using the data and information supplied by another.

One example of such a company is Navteq. Navteq is an internet company that supplies detailed maps of the earth that can be used by others to create a viable business. Navteq supplies it APIs, allowing the use of its own maps. A famous use of a Navteq API is that of the NRMA trip planner. The NRMA website uses the map data supplied by Navteq to allow users to plan their trips. By using APIs, NRMA has saved time and money by using Navteqs maps, rather than create its own.

This innovation of using supplied maps has allowed users to easily plan their future trips.

This companionship between the two businesses is similar to that of the RACQ trip planner. RACQ also uses maps supplied by Navteq to create a similar tool for customers to plan their trips.

Possible issues that could arise from the use of API’s is of course the incorrect and misuse of personal data. In the case of online maps, there could be ethical issues of people using these maps for stalking.

The use of online maps has become more and more popular. The assembly of map data with trip planning has already shown a bright future for as it is already in use with hand held devices such as mobile phones and car gps’.

References:
http://www.navteq.com/
http://www.racq.com.au/travel/Maps_and_Directions/trip_planner
http://www.mynrma.com.au/trip-planner.htm
http://oreilly.com/web2/archive/what-is-web-20.html