[4gotunameagain]

The value of said data is tremendous, and could lead to great societal benefits if available for research.

So much so that I would argue that google (et al) should be compelled to make the data publicly available.

They have enough money, let's make society better.

[sagarm]

They are making this data publicly available -- after aggregation and anonymization.

[4gotunameagain]

A fraction of the data they collect, to keep up appearances.

[notatoad]

Publicly releasing 100% of the maps data they collect would be the most gigantic privacy violation the world has ever seen.

[4gotunameagain]

Are you seriously suggesting that google is gatekeeping the data because they care about privacy ?