I am starting this thread because the title for the earlier thread seemed inappropriate. http://blogoscoped.com/forum/171259.html

http://www.google.com/economicimpact/
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GooglePublicPolicyBlog/~3/W-ikjBzPuT0/coming-tomorrow.html

Why do they have the Google Maps interface?

What is the geographic significance to the data? The map doesn't add anything useful to the data. When you look at the map, what does it tell you about Google's economic impact?

The map doesn't make it easier to access the state data. It defaults to a zoom level that includes 48 states and excludes 2 states. Many of the markers for the eastern states are crammed too close together.

The map interface slows things down and vastly increases resources used. Much more data is transmitted. It increases network load. It adds server load. Browsers consume extra memory and cpu time.

Google provides another page with a text list to each of the fifty states with links. They could have easily put the state summary information in the anchor titles for those links.