Web of intrigue

Google is using the vast amount of data it has about the world – and you – to transform the way you travel. But who is in control? Jenny Southan reports

If you think Google is simply about searching for things, think again. Depending on your privacy settings and how much information you voluntarily give up, the tech giant knows where you are, the places you travel to, the restaurants you eat in, the location of your home and office, who your friends are, the things you like, the websites you browse and what’s written in your emails. Google probably knows you better than your own parents.

It uses all this information to target relevant advertising to you, of course, but its aim is much more than that. With the personal data Google collates, on the one hand it is benevolently working to make your life easier – when it comes to researching and booking travel, it is transforming the industry – but on the other, its modus operandi could be perceived as more sinister.

Google’s mobile operating system, Android, now dominates the smartphone market with an 81 per cent share, while Google Search is used by 71 per cent of people globally, so the extent to which the mega-corporation is weaving itself throughout our lives is clear. Given we can organise virtually every aspect of travel online, it is no surprise that the company is continually adding new functions, from hotel finders and live traffic updates to voice-activated translation and apps that scan your inbox for bookings.

With just your Gmail login, Google links the information it knows about you, and can, if you wish, tell you if your plane is delayed, if there are roadworks up ahead or where your friends like to eat. Stuart Miles, founder of gadget site www.pocket-lint.com, says: “Google is trying to become more of a one-stop shop, so if you want to search for currency exchange, for example, you no longer have to go to a [specific] website – just type the amounts into Google.”

With just your Gmail login, Google can tell you if your plane is delayed

You don’t even need an Android device to get a taste of its super powers – from virtually every desktop computer and smartphone, Google rules cyberspace, and we can’t live without it. But is that a bad thing?

Many companies would say yes. Flight comparison sites such as Expedia, Kayak and Orbitz have accused Google of taking advantage of its ubiquity by displaying its own results with direct links to individual airline websites above theirs. Concerns about search bias began to be raised a number of years ago and antitrust cases have since been filed with the European Commission, though there has not yet been a clear resolution.

In its defence, Ed Parsons, geospatial technologist for Google, says: “We don’t believe there is any basis to this. There is a very vibrant, competitive environment out there for people. Expedia [for example] has been doing this much longer than we have and is much more well established.”

That may be so, but futurologist Peter Cochrane notes: “Google has better information and better search capabilities than the travel industry. The legal system is about a decade behind, and Google is so big and rich that if it all goes badly wrong, it can pay the fine.”

Competition lobby www. fairsearch.org presents updates and information on “the Google Problem” along with a list of its members, the biggest names being Tripadvisor, Expedia, Microsoft and Nokia. It could not be reached for comment, however, and Expedia was also unwilling to be interviewed about Google.

What seems obvious is that provided you don’t mind giving up a chunk of personal data, your life can be made much easier by

its services. Google launched its Flight Search (www.google.com/ flights) and Hotel Finder (www. google.com/hotelfinder) portals in the US in 2011, and is now rolling them out globally. According to commentators, its market share in online travel comparison is still marginal, but for the traveller, the functionality can be handy.

In the case of Flight Search (for services originating in the US, Canada, UK, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands), you can type in your destinations and dates, and instantly see airlines, times and prices as a list or on a map, as well as fluctuations in rates across the month displayed as a graph. The booking links tend to be sponsored by the carrier, thus bringing in revenue to Google if you click on them.

If you are planning a holiday, you may also fancy trying Google Flights Explore (www.google.com/flights/

explore), which is currently available in the US, Canada and some European destinations. Punch in your departure city and your desired location and it will show graphs for destinations displaying the best prices across three months, and all the airlines that serve it. You can then immediately see that US$878, for example, is the best rate going for a one-week trip from London to Antigua in February, and you will need to fly with American Airlines.

Hotel Finder, which is available globally, is just as simple. Type in when and where you are going and a range of options will appear with prices clearly displayed and a map showing their location. It will even highlight things such as free wifi and whether it is a good deal based on how much it usually costs.

Parsons says: “Part of Google’s mantra has been to make information more accessible, useful and more readily available to people. And that is never more important than when we travel. We don’t go to a travel agent any more – we sit in front of a computer and may visit dozens of websites even when planning a relatively simple trip. We look at this problem in terms of how we can streamline that, make it easier for people and to perhaps personalise it bit more.”

As far as Cochrane can see, this is a good thing.“What is actually happening is degrees of intelligence are being embedded. I really don’t want to type in that I want a double bed in a non-smoking room every time – it remembers all that stuff and starts to give me my preferences.”

In a bid to expose its search functionality to a wider base of people, Google began its imageled “Knowledge Graph hotel experiment” in the US in 2013. The idea was to bring up a carousel of images as soon as someone typed in “Paris hotels”, for instance, to make the experience more visual. As with restaurants and bars, they are generated by review scores from Zagat (now owned by Google) to create results powered by recommendations instead of conventional search engine optimisation tricks. (To learn more about the Knowledge Graph, scan page 27 with the free Blippar app.)

“Part of Google’s mantra has been to make information more accessible and useful”

Metasearch – recognising what you are trying to search for and understanding the broader context – is core to Google’s drive to personalise the search experience. Parsons explains: “If we know you have searched for flights to Boston, then we know that the next thing you will want are hotels in Boston, and then restaurants, and we might be able to bring up pictures of neighbourhoods, reviews, and Tripadvisor content.”