Product Development of Google Maps: Research Proposal Analysis

This research proposal delves into the product development process of Google Maps, examining the management strategies and research methodologies employed by Google. The study aims to identify Google's strengths in the online navigation market, focusing on how the company identifies and addresses challenges in product development. The proposal outlines research objectives, justification, and potential outcomes, including insights into consumer needs and market analysis. It explores the conceptual framework, methodology, and organizational structure of the study, including a Gantt chart and project budget. The research also considers the challenges in Google Maps product development, such as understanding consumer needs and adapting to market changes. The findings are expected to benefit Google's R&D team, managers, and consumers by providing a better understanding of product development, marketing strategies, and consumer behavior.

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT OF GOOGLE MAPS
Research Proposal
Topic: RESEARCH RELATING TO MANAGEMENT PROCESS IN PRODUCT
DEVELOPMENT OF GOOGLE MAPS
Student’s name
Name of the university

1PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT OF GOOGLE MAPS
Table of Contents
Section I...........................................................................................................................................2
1. Introduction..............................................................................................................................2
2. Problem Statement...................................................................................................................2
3. Research aims and objectives..................................................................................................3
4. Justification of the projects......................................................................................................3
5. Potential research output..........................................................................................................4
Section II..........................................................................................................................................4
6. Conceptual framework.............................................................................................................4
7. Methodology............................................................................................................................7
Section III........................................................................................................................................9
8. Organisation of the study.........................................................................................................9
9. Project budget and budget justification..................................................................................10
10. Gantt Chart.............................................................................................................................0
Reference List..................................................................................................................................0

2PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT OF GOOGLE MAPS
Section I
1. Introduction
Product development indicates all the stages that are required to develop a product from a new
idea or concept. In a nutshell, product development indicates the entire journey of a product that
encompasses finding out the market needs, preparing the roadmap of a product, designing and
conceptualizing the product and so on. The predominant objective of the product development is
to nurture and maintain and finally boost up the market share of a company by satisfying the
changing needs of the consumers (Lyytinen et al., 2016). It is a well-known fact that every
product cannot cater to the needs of every consumer. So, it is extremely crucial for a business
organisation to set the target market for them in order to satisfy the consumers effectively.
Qualitative market research needs to be conducted at all the stages associated with the process of
product designing (Stark, 2015). It can also be conducted before a service or product is
conceived. Although the process of product development is considered creative, it requires a
systematic approach in order to guide the entire process.
The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the management process involved in developing
Google maps. Google has adopted a unique approach in terms of product development. The
organisation has brought out their Design Sprint Kit those conations a comprehensive overview
of their innoivat6ion process and product development (Noe et al., 2017).
2. Problem Statement
Product development is necessary for an organisation not only to increase its market share but
also maintain the current market share. Moreover, it helps an organisation to get a stronghold in
the market. However, the process of product development is not an easy task because there are a
number of challenges involved in the process that needs to be dealt with effectively. High risk of
failure is considered one of the series of challenges that may lead to the process of product
development towards failure (Chang & Taylor, 2016). A number of people question the necessity
of the process of product development because a substantial amount of resources are required in
the process and success rate is not very impressive (Golder & Mitra, 2018). At the time of
introducing Google Map, the organisation vowed to bring a transformation in terms of the

3PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT OF GOOGLE MAPS
current navigation practices of the people all over the world. But the problem is that the
organisation has not provided any idea about the process that they seek to follow in order to
develop Google Map. The predominant problem associated with the development process of
Google Maps is not just the technical process; the most challenging part understands the needs of
different customers. Failure to understand the needs of the individual consumer is really very
challenging and time-consuming. Product development of Google Map has now become an issue
now because it requires huge funding and other resources (Welford, 2016). Frequent product
shut down of Google may also be a factor that may impact the process of product development in
a negative way.
3. Research aims and objectives
Aim of the Study
The aim of the research is to identify Google’s researching strengths which have successfully
captured the market share in online navigation by research in product development processes.
Objectives
RO1: To understand how exactly that company has been able to identify the issues related to the
management processes adopted for the product development of the Google Map.
RO2: To understand the research process and methodology which the company has adopted in
order to develop its product successfully.
4. Justification of the projects
This kind of projects is necessary to understand the need of the targeted consumers. The research
can provide Google a comprehensive overview of various important factors associated with
product development. The possibility of success in product development depends on various
resources. The project may help the organisation to find out the most important resources among
a series of various resources. The projects can be utilized in all the stages associated with the
product development process of Google map. Furthermore, the project can assist the organisation
to understand their consumers in a better way (Norton et al., 2015). This kind of projects is
necessary to determine the potential consumers, frequency of their usage, their needs, and
expectations and so on. The research will help Google to look into the profiles of the ideal

4PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT OF GOOGLE MAPS
consumers. The organisation will able to acquire some valuable insights from this project that
might assist it to address various kinds of issues while developing Google Maps.
5. Potential research output
The findings of the study can assist Google in various ways. The organisation can use the
expected outcomes for various purposes. Before launching the product finally, the organisation
can exploit the outcomes of the project in understanding the changing behaviours of the users.
While launching a product, an organisation may have some doubts about whether its products
would be accepted by the consumers or not. The organisation can use the project to find out the
most appropriate approach that it needs to take in order to make the product more and more
acceptable to the consumers. Furthermore, Google can use the findings of the projects to address
a series of problems during the entire process of product development. Google can utilize the
outcomes to adopt a perfect marketing plan in order to reduce the chance of failure of product
development. The organisation can also use the expected outputs for classifying their objectives
at the time of following current trends to reach out to their target users. The beneficiaries of the
project would be the R&D team of the company, the managers, the directors of the company and
also the consumers. Moreover, future researchers can be benefitted in various from such projects.
Section II
6. Conceptual framework
The Google Navigation is been developed in assistance with Android and the iOS operating
system which utilizes internet and GPS navigation system for the operation of the application.
The emergence in the need to provide a tracking device which will not only be accurate but a
real-time measurement of the location has gain importance for the growth of the market for the
navigation system (Showering, 2015). The main purpose of the navigation map was to determine
the position of the place or an individual. The procedure needs the assistance of radio, satellite
and electronic frequency. The various aspects which determine the market share of Google in
navigation include product size in the market, benchmarking of the product, developments of the
products and the competitive landscape for the product. In addition, the financial and strategic
analysis helps in gauging the impacts of the forces and opportunities which the market has
created (Ahmed, Islam, & Ray, 2018). The market share of the company also takes into

5PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT OF GOOGLE MAPS
consideration the launches agreements and the various acquisitions which have been done in
order to develop the product.
The process which the Google adopts for the development of new product helps in nurturing a
creating environment which is open to newer ideas related to the development of the navigation
tool in Google Maps. In order to promote a new idea and to understand the extent which the new
technology or the idea will be successful the company is found to launch the product early as a
demo in order to obtain review related to the changes from the users (Van Alstyn et al., 2016).
So that the next level of development can be done on the basis of the reviews and the way the
application worked in practical situations. In most of the case it has been observed that of 5 of
the different innovation which is included by the organisation as changes in the application, two
of them are successfully applicable as a result the profitability of the company also increases.
There are two core strengths which have been identified in Google. The first strength is its ability
to process queries related to any aspect around 70% of the world while the Android process
around 80% in a smartphone. This has made Google one of the largest advertising company
using the internet in terms of annual revenue. The company is known to leverage its strength on
the basis of apps which includes Maps, Drives, YouTube and Gmail (Edelman, 2015). Among
the various navigation applications available Google Map is been observed to be used the most.
The Google Map has been observed to detract the process of human’s natural abilities to
navigate. In addition, more and more businesses being integrated with the location-based features
as well as the functionalities in the apps that are assisted by the Manifest’s Data. This provides a
better understanding of the preference of the consumers related to the navigation procedure
through Google. Three-fourths of the total number of Smartphone users relies on the navigation
map provided by Google
In spite of all the advantages of the using of Google Map and increase in the amount of usage
due to the large amount information related to the layout of the roads sharing location with the
family members utilisation and access to the information related to the various modes of
communication there are certain limitations related to the Google navigation system. It has been
observed that Google Maps had limited accuracy at times (Suriyachai, Raedeebuk &
Wuttisittikulkij, 2015). There is ambiguity and flaws which are observed related to the location
data, where the direction provided by the app may not take the individual to the expected

6PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT OF GOOGLE MAPS
destination. It is also reported that the application may not function in case of road damage or
blockage at times due to the construction work or bad weather. Further, the street view images
may provide information that can be misused by the criminals.
There were several challenges related to the Google navigation and maps have been observed
while the individual is figuring out the correct direction. According to the developer of the
Google Navigation, researches are still going in order to efficiently improve the navigation with
the use of technologies which are beyond GPS and compass, as they have been found have
several physical limitations (Moshfeghi, 2016). According to the researchers, experiments
related to the utilization of the technique global localization through which tracking of correct
location can be done. Experiments related to the utilization of Visual Positioning Service (VPS)
with Street view helped in understanding the correct location and orientation of the individual.
This has found to work faster in providing the correct direction than initially (Kaware, 2018).
The camera of the Smartphone has been utilized in the form of sensor to understand the location.
GPS as per most of the researcher had fallen short in providing the correct location because it
depends on the various radio signals from the multiple satellites in order to understand the
correct location and give the precise direction (Wang, 2019). But in a densely populated urban
area, this was a constraint where the visibility of the sky is low and the signals were found to
reflect more from the tall buildings. In addition, the GPS was found to provide the location and
not the orientation this is because the sensors in the mobile device although can capture the
magnetic and gravity field to give a rough idea related to the orientation however they were not
strong enough (Chin & Lee, 2015). The sensors got occasionally skewed due to the magnetic
object that is attached in the buildings and cars and providing inaccurate locations.
The technologies with the utilization of VPS that assist in the location on the basis of the image
of the location capture from the camera of the phone, the Street View Imaginary and a combined
technology for the global localization assisted with augmented reality provided the needed
accuracy (Nielsen et al., 2017). The technologies were found to enhance the precision in the
location providing newer experiences related to the navigation. The results observed in the
researches were although found to be promising however it was important to continue improving
the strength of the application during a challenging situation which includes snowfall or rain.

7PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT OF GOOGLE MAPS
More researches are done on artificial intelligence camera also known as the Google lens will
help in overlaying the direction and providing newer experiences.
Figure 1: Conceptual Framework
(Source: Self-created)
7. Methodology
Research philosophy
Research philosophy is a kind of belief that indicates the way of harnessing relevant data about a
particular phenomenon (Quinlan et al., 2019). It is considered as an inseparable part of research
methodology. Research philosophy helps a researcher to determine the correct approach while
conducting the research. Variations of research philosophy encompass positivism,
interpretivism, pragmatism and finally realism.

8PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT OF GOOGLE MAPS
In order to conduct the research, the researcher will adopt interpretivism philosophy. The
interpretivism philosophy facilitates a researcher to integrate human interest with the research.
Furthermore, this philosophy will help the researcher to collect relevant data by adopting a
naturalistic approach.
Research design
Research design suggests a framework of various methods and techniques adopted by a
researcher to accumulate various kinds of relevant components related to the research in a logical
way. At the time of conducting research, the researcher has to find out the answer to a series of
questions (Creswell & Poth, 2017). An appropriate research design helps a researcher to answer
the questions in a perfect manner. The sketch of research can be drawn effectively by using
research design. Research design can be classified as exploratory, explanatory and ultimately
descriptive.
The researcher is going to adopt an exploratory research design in order to carry out the present
research associated with the product development of Google Maps. Exploratory research design
is taken to find out a problem that has not been evaluated comprehensively. The reason behind
the researcher’s selection of this research design is that it facilitates him or her to draw a suitable
conclusion with caution (Meyers, Gamst & Guarino, 2016). Since the current research is going to
be conducted on the management process associated with the product development of Google
Maps, exploratory research design will facilitate the researcher to study the key issues in a
comprehensive way.
Research approach
The research approach is a process that encompasses the steps of harnessing relevant data
comprehensively (Beins, 2017). Research approach can be classified as an inductive approach
and deductive approach.

9PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT OF GOOGLE MAPS
While conducting the following project, the researcher is going to select a deductive approach.
The deductive approach seeks to drills down from the general approach to the specific (Palinkas
et al., 2015). This approach will facilitate the researcher to develop an idea by taking various
methods such as adding, extending and so on.
Data collection and analysis
Data collection is a process of harnessing relevant information from a number of sources in order
to find out suitable answers to the research problem (Yanow & Schwartz-Shea, 2015). Data
collection procedure can be classified into two categories such as primary method and secondary
method.
In order to conduct the current research, the researcher will rely on secondary methods.
Secondary indicates data that has been harnessed by someone else other than the researcher. The
researcher will choose this method for a number of advantages associated with secondary data
such as time-saving factor, easy accessibility, availability and so on (Denzin, 2017). Moreover, it
is not possible for the researcher to collect primary data from the big and multinational
organisation like Google. The process would be both time consuming and expensive. So using
secondary data will be the best possible option for the researcher to conduct the research
successfully. Data will be collected from books, journals, magazines, newspapers and so on.
Section III
8. Organisation of the study
At the first project, the proposal is done and it is the preliminary stage in conducting the
research. After that, the researcher will do conceptual framework. In this conceptual framework,
a set of the scholarly article will be reviewed. The researcher will review past researches based
on the similar topic.
In the methodology section, interpretivism philosophy will be taken to conduct the research. The
researcher will adopt the exploratory research design. While conducting the research the
researcher is going to take a deductive approach.In terms of data collection, secondary data
sources will be used to harness relevant data.

10PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT OF GOOGLE MAPS
After methodology, data analysis will be carried out in order to get a comprehensive overview of
the subject. At the final part of the project will be comprised of conclusions and
recommendations.
9. Project budget and budget justification
The research budget for this project would be $3200 to complete the project within given time
frame.
To conduct the literature review, potential information needs to be collected from the secondary
sources. It will cost approximately $800.
The researcher will conduct secondary data collection to perform the research project. Therefore,
the researcher requires many journals, books, websites access and management and science
magazines subscriptions. Therefore, it is required to pay for the premium articles and journals to
access the content. Subscription of the journals and purchase of online magazines and articles
will cost around $1200.
To access charts, graphs and government reports from websites, it will cost around $500.
Travel cost of the research would be $200.
Printing cost of the research would touch $300.
Purpose Expenses
Literature review 800
Data collection and analysis 1200
Charts, graphs, and reports 500
Printing 300
Travel cost 200
Internet 200
Total $3200

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT OF GOOGLE MAPS
10. Gantt Chart
Gantt Chart
Task Name Start Day End Day Duration
Research Proposal 08/05/2019 27/05/2019 14 days
Literature Review 28/5/2019 25/06/2019 21 days
Data Collection 26/06/2019 02/08/2019 28 days
Data Analysis 03/08/2019 30/08/2019 21 days
Final Report Submission 31/08/2019 05/09/2019 5 days
Milestones and Deliverables

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT OF GOOGLE MAPS
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