Geodata is driving a second internet bubble, as Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Yahoo! rush to build local search sites and mobile location based advertising services. These efforts were inspired by the efforts of amateurs with a lot of free time after the first dot.com bubble burst, who suddenly had access for the first time to free location information from the GPS system, broadband internet access and increased processing capacity that allowed them to download and work with the vast bodies of public domain geodata for the first time, and a maturing generation of Open Source Geospatial software to build applications with.
Sites like http://geocoder.us/ , a street address to location encoder built on public geodata and released as free software, enable anyone with a modicum of web-oriented programming skill to create their own spatial applications and contribute to a "long tail" of the GeographicInformationIndustry. This new generation of Internet technologies is sometimes called "Web 2.0" or Where 2.0.
Google Earth
Windows Live Local
Google joins OpenGeospatialConsortium
This isn't just about traditional Internet technology, or consumer level mobile technology, either. A spirit of public access, open standards and cooperation on data gathering is creating a revolution in how our environment can be managed. Marine scientists in particular are breaking new horizons with sensor-based projects like http://4dgeo.whoi.edu/
If the planet is facing a big environmental shakeup which may negatively effect cities and commerce, then public access to geodata will help us to predict what's going to happen and take preventative measures, and plan for a sustainable future.