Fantasise for a moment: you’ve fallen into a jetset lifestyle and you’ve flown away on a city break somewhere warm and cosmopolitan. And as you step out of your taxi from the airport, fresh from your first-class flight, you realise – you fancy a coffee.
You’ve never set foot in the city before. What’s your first move?
While the more whimsical among us might pick a direction and start walking, most of us reach for our phones to consult a map – and for most of the West, that is Google Maps. We search for ‘coffee’ or ‘cafe’, and then select an option from the list presented, guided by reviews, ratings and photos.
It’s a short, simple interaction that in one fell swoop helps you to situate yourself, understand your surroundings, and decide what to do next – an incredible feat of modern technology. It’s also one of the most powerful invisible forces in consumer decision-making today.
So let’s get to know it a little better.
From their very beginnings, maps have been instruments of political and economic power, used to assert control and ownership. They often had symbolic religious role or were used as tools to teach history and geography. Partly due to technological constraints, navigation was less a concern than the message.
As times changed and techniques improved, early cartographers became able to represent a truer picture of the world around them. However, they were still typically objects commissioned only by wealthy institutions for a particular purpose – typically warfare, trade, or governance.
For the average person, navigation still happened the way it always had: with the help of itineraries, landmarks and route markers prepared in advance – and of course, asking for directions. Accurate topographical maps only entered into ordinary people’s hands in the 19th century, driven by projects like the UK’s Ordnance Survey (so named for its military origins.)
For the first time, these maps made it possible for everyday citizens to orient themselves and understand their surroundings without needing to see them with their own eyes. This ability changed society forever – kickstarting everything from hiking for pleasure to long-distance tourism. It unlocked an ability to traverse unfamiliar spaces with confidence that could never have existed otherwise.
Since the 19th century, maps have only gotten more accurate, and GPS has added the ability to know where we stand on them at any given moment. Fundamentally however, our ability to move independently in parts unknown dates back to this initial surge in access to and ability to read maps. Where would we be without them? (Presumably, lost.)
The talk of maps as symbols and instruments of power seems quite remote to us today. We generally see them as neutral, functional tools, and we consult them almost without thinking. Reinforcing how unremarkable they have become is the fact that they have become absolutely free. You could be forgiven for thinking that they exist as a public service. But are they really as neutral as they appear?
Let’s return to our jetset coffee break. When you search for any generic good like ‘coffee’ on Google Maps, the locations that you see flagged are decided by their relevance to your query (as chosen by Google) and whether said locations have paid for visibility. In urban environments where competition is fierce, a map will tend to display a select few options for UX reasons – often, the highest bidders.
This ‘local search’ ad revenue is worth billions of dollars a year to a business like Google, and it is why Google Maps and its competitors are free. They may be neutral maps, in that they represent geography faithfully, but they come with a heavy commercial layer slapped on top of them.
This commercial layer acts like a prism, warping our navigation in unfamiliar spaces. You wouldn’t call it deeply manipulative – the option to dig deeper always exists for if we don’t find something we like the look of on a first pass. Nevertheless, it places discoverability in the hands of third parties. We do not have transparency on exactly why Google will highlight one business over another.
To drive this point home about their commercial nature, you don’t need to be a seasoned hiker to know that out of an urban environment, maps like Google Maps become almost useless. Rural spaces show up as blank green expanses, devoid of detail. Seeing this is peeking behind the curtain of what the map is actually for – influencing how you spend money. Traversability is not foremost in its priorities. It’s why it has features to tell you how busy a restaurant is, but will struggle to help you find a defibrillator.
By emphasising or de-emphasising particular features, modern maps typically tilt us towards spending money. Isolated paths in the wilderness don’t lead to shops – there’s little need to map them for Google. Likewise, malls are incentivised to provide pathfinding to particular stores and experiences.
OK, so what does this all mean other than seeming like a targeted hitpiece against Google Maps commissioned by old fashioned paper map companies?
The point is to highlight that quietly, over the last two decades or so, maps for most of us have evolved beyond navigation into something more akin to a decision-making engine. Where to shop, where to eat, where to go – maps now exist not just to navigate but to push us to certain outcomes.
AI is set to transform this process even further, and it’s something that any brand with a physical footprint will need to pay attention to.
AI is already becoming an oft-utilised resource for when we make decisions. In 2025, 50% of us admitted to using AI to help us plan our holidays. 58% say they use it to help research products. We are rapidly approaching the point at which AI recommendations are the first port of call.
In many ways, this is a return to the past. Individual research was not possible on the level that it is today. Word of mouth was queen – knowledge was stored in those around you. Someone would know, or would know someone else who did. Now, AI acts like everyone rolled into one – with answers for every question.
Google themselves have spoken of their intention to merge their AI model Gemini with Maps to create a “conversational” partner – with the ultimate goal of becoming an “all-knowing copilot”. The ultimate aim of such an ambition is to shift decision-making power away from the individual and toward the algorithm. Right now, to a greater or lesser extent, we gather information from different sources to choose where to shop and eat. With AI, we outsource that information gathering stage, leaving us needing only to accept or reject its decision. And, typically, we tend to uncritically accept suggestions in this position. After all, without our own research, on what basis would we reject it?
For brands that rely on their physical footprint, this creates a polarised future where discoverability is less built on traditional brand awareness and more on AI retrievability – something that was primarily on the radar of D2C and ecommerce businesses. How will customers even find you on the map if, guided by an ‘all-knowing copilot’, they never need to look at a map?
This will be a polarising shift in consumer behaviour, leading different brands to two broad schools of thought – either attempting to compete for AI attention, or to ignore it.
Show up where AI reads
Where different AI models prefer to draw their recommendations from varies constantly, but it generally shows a preference for high-trust content – such as articles in validated editorial institutions. In this situation, media partnerships and getting your name in the right publications will grow ever more valuable. This runs against the current trend where social media influencers have held much of the power. While where AI draws its opinions from may shift, for now it looks like the pendulum will swing back. Most importantly, you must appear broadly and consistently – ensuring a coherent message is readable across your own platforms, customer reviews, and industry coverage.
Focus on specialisms
One of the quirks of how customers search and choose where to go is that they tend to make queries that ask for specifics. “Where does the best chai latte around here?”. “What’s the best spot for remote working in this area?” Being a jack of all trades loses value if you aren’t known for anything. Unlike at present where engaging with searchable maps rewards generic queries, AI gives us the ability to apply almost infinite levels of specificity. Becoming known for one thing in particular gains far more comparative value in this context.
Optimise for availability
From gyms to dentists, many businesses benefit from their profiles on maps. Aspects like broad opening hours, fast service, highly detailed profiles – all help to improve discoverability. 20% of all local search start in map apps, and the number of local searches ‘near me’ doubled in 2025. Unlike paying for higher visibility, AI is (for now) theoretically neutral – which means that prioritising the visibility and extent of service offerings is hugely important.
Double down on brand memorability
The only brands that are able to rise above requiring AI recommendations for footfall are ones whose names are remembered. It ensures customers will look for you in particular – not a generic recommendation for vegan food or the best local tailor. Of course, this is easier said than done – but those who choose this route will need to aim for the highest levels of customer service and to have a truly unique selling point, be it menu items, interior design, or style. Any reason to remember the name.
Cultivate community and loyalty
The issue with leaning into AI discoverability is that you risk becoming interchangeable. If you don’t control the customer relationship or what made them come in the door, you can’t ensure it will happen again – you are at the mercy of a blackbox recommendation engine. You must either have a method to stay on top, or a way to intentionally lock consumers into an ecosystem that bypasses a need for other recommendations. Loyalty schemes and exclusive benefits will never have mattered more than when AI dictates decisions.
Go all in on social
Brands that choose to optimise how they show up for AI recommendations and navigation face a competition issue, in that just as in marketing – there being ‘objectively’ best tactics leads to homogeneity in output. Even if most consumers become guided by AI, the sheer congestion will add value into choosing to show up elsewhere. If you’re a brand with a strong social presence, beloved by influencers – this will continue to yield dividends even into a very different looking future.
At the moment, most AI recommendations comes from a general, all-purpose model. But over time, we are likely to have AI companions that learn with us and about us. Such companions plugged into a map API like Google’s will be able to create very different visions of the same place for different people. An AI that learns our preferences over time will be able to help us know when live events that interest us are happening, new stores are opening, flash sales and more. The transition from neutral to personal will be complete.
How would a fashion lover’s New York look on a map vs a nightlife diehard? Who could curate and publish these ‘views’ of cities? And will it give new value to being on the map?
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