Google wants to sell Maps data to solar companies
Google wants to sell Maps data sets to various companies to use as they develop renewable energy products, with the hopes of generating $100 million (R1.85 billion) in the first year, CNBC reports.
It will sell access to new application programming interfaces (APIs) with solar and energy information and air quality data.
Google plans to sell API access to individual building data and cumulative data for all buildings in a specific city or county. It says it has data for more than 350 million buildings.
Some of this data comes from Google solar savings calculator Project Sunroof. Its new dataset of 350 million buildings is a significant increase from the 60 million it cited for Project Sunroof in 2017.
Google’s new APIs will include a Solar API, set to be used by solar installers like SunRun and Tesla Energy. The company also sees real estate companies as potential customer opportunities.
Citing an internal Google document, CNBC reported that the company estimates its APIs will generate $90 million (R1.67 billion) to $100 million (R1.85 billion) in its first year.
The company also plans to launch an Air Quality API to let customers request related data, including pollutants and health-based recommendations for specific areas.
The Air Quality API will also feature digital heat maps, hourly air quality information, and air quality history for the past 30 days.
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