It’s merely an observation, but I find it interesting in the sheer amount of buzz around Google Maps. Don’t get me wrong - I’m the first person to admit that they’ve done some cool stuff, especially around integration Keyhole’s satellite images. However, you’d think by the amount of hype, community and interest it’s generating you would swear that people had never seen a map before.

Why then, has Google Maps become a firestorm? Simple: It’s an IdeaVirus.

By providing a simple and open access mechanism (some XML and javascript) to its most crucial item, its data, innovative developers have been enabled with the key basic building blocks. From there, it’s up to them to use their own creativity to do some amazing things with it.

And in no time, they’ve created an army of online evangelists.