It had to. It took Google years to catchup to AOL’s MapQuest. And its latest version puts Google one crucial step ahead of rivals.

By Dan Mitchell, contributor

FORTUNE — By including indoor spaces to the Android version of its Maps service, Google is positioning itself to take advantage of two concurrent trends: the spread of mobile communications and the increasing privatization of public space. After all, it can be just as hard to find the restroom in a mall as it is to find an address in an unfamiliar city.

What’s more, the move further solidifies Google’s (GOOG) lead over AOL’s (AOL) MapQuest. For years, Google engineers struggled to catch up to MapQuest. Now, the Mountain View, California-based giant is intent on not squandering its lead.

So far, only a handful of indoor venues are included: stores such as Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s (M) and Home Depot (HD); airports in Chicago, Atlanta and San Francisco; transit centers and other spaces in Japan; and malls including the Mall of America outside Minneapolis. (This latter spot comes as something of a surprise, considering the mall’s history of bizarre behavior when it comes to security.)

Google will accept floor plans from any indoor venue that wants to be included. The feature comes on top of the recent rollout of 360-degree Business Photos, a service that gives customers a remote, panoramic view of the insides of businesses. Google sends a photographer to a store, and the photos are posted on the store’s Google Places page.

Once the indoor service achieves scale, Google will be able generate revenues by tying it in with Google Places and Google Wallet.

Despite recent improvements to MapQuest that by many accounts put it on a par with Google Maps, AOL is having a tough time competing. In February, MapQuest introduced a turn-by-turn mobile app for Android. At the same time, it reported that its mobile Web site was drawing 8.6 million users per month. Also in February, Nielsen (NLSN) reported that Google Maps was just behind Facebook and The Weather Channel’s app in popularity among all smartphone platforms, far ahead of MapQuest. On Android phones, Google Maps was the No. 1 app, with 67 percent of all users accessing it at least once that month. On the iPhone, it was just behind iTunes at No. 2.

On the Web, Google Maps drew 67.3 million unique views in February, according to Nielsen, while MapQuest tallied 24.7 million. Yahoo Local (YHOO) was third at 13.1 million.

MapQuest, which had owned the online mapping space since before the Web was invented (MapQuest was created in 1967 as commercial cartography software; AOL purchased the company in 2000), first fell behind Google Maps in 2009 in terms of monthly visitors — which is pretty good considering how vastly superior Google Maps had been for several years before that. AOL’s advantage of having an installed base on sites across the Web eroded even as AOL, with its relatively limited resources, worked hard to catch up. MapQuest’s main problem seems to be that it’s owned by AOL.

One issue Google had to overcome with indoor mapping is that it’s hard for a phone to get accurate signals in buildings with thick walls and ceilings — not to mention underground spaces such as the Tokyo subway system. The accuracy is down to a several yards, which should work well enough in most situations. Google hasn’t said when or even if the new feature will be made available for the iPhone — but maintain its lead will no doubt require it.

Filed under: Contributors, Google

Google engineers are stars in Silicon Valley. But while some sales and marketing expats have burned bright others have, well, burned out.

By Anne VanderMey, reporter

FORTUNE — When he worked at Google, Patrick Keane got a lot of calls from recruiters. For a while, as director of sales strategy and field marketing, Keane would get a new offer every week practically begging him to sign on as the CEO of a “weird-undefined-logo tech startup,” as he puts it.

Keane eventually left, joining the ranks of hundreds of ex-Googlers (GOOG) who have jumped into the eager embrace of a tech world wowed by the fabulous rise of the Mountain View, California-based company. Since it went public in 2004, Google’s DNA — from HR’s impossible brain teasers to the rabid focus on data in its decision-making — has conferred on its engineers a desirability that may be unparalleled in Silicon Valley. What about Google’s sales and marketing people? Results have been mixed.

The best-known Google expat is likely Sheryl Sandberg. Formerly the company’s global online sales and operations VP, Sandberg is now COO of Facebook and a bone fide business superstar. There’s also Suhkinder Singh Cassidy, formerly Google’s top sales executive for Asia-Pacific and Latin America. He founded shopping site Joyus.com after a stint as CEO-in-residence of Accel Partners and CEO of Polyvore. Google’s charismatic Middle Eastern marketing head Wael Ghonim took leave from his job to help catalyze the Egyptian revolution. And Keane, meanwhile, became the CEO of web publishing company Associated Content before selling it to Yahoo (YHOO) for $100 million last summer.

There are plenty of less-than-stellar performances, though. Tim Armstrong is perhaps the company’s best-known flameout. The former Google sales boss has so far failed to stem the bleeding at the perpetually struggling AOL (AOL). He brought in and then canned former Googlers like head of ad sales Jeff Levick and head of media David Eun. The company has sputtered from strategy to strategy after early efforts to apply a Google-like focus on data failed.

Others might have just picked the wrong company. Margo Georgiadis, Google’s former VP of global sales, spent just five months as the COO of Groupon (GRPN) before returning to the search giant as the head of ad sales and operations in the America’s. In 2008 Southeast Asia sales chief Richard Kimber became the CEO of Friendster – which despite its tarnished reputation stateside — was later sold to Malaysian company MOL global, and is now a gaming site. Elsewhere, some blogs have been less than kind to some former marketing execs, and some startups end poorly.

Given the challenges of working elsewhere — no free food, no climbing wall — why would an employee leave at all? Google is consistently in Fortune‘s top 5 best companies to work for ranking, and the company has recently been hiking salaries in an effort to stem brain drain to competitors like Facebook. (The company declined to comment for this story.)

Non-engineers at the company face unique roadblocks, for one. Decision-making is famously numbers-based, and the leadership has traditionally disdained advertising. An intensely quantitative culture can make it difficult for sales staff (or any non-engineer) to get noticed.

And then there’s the draw of the startup. Many simply feel they can make a bigger name for themselves faster by leaving Mountain View. There’s a high demand for sales folk as well as marketing employees. “People that have been with Google for a few years on the marketing side are highly sought after,” says David Voss, COO of Silicon Valley executive staffing firm Foxhunt. “I’d say in the top 1%.”

Says former Googler Keane, “Google’s a good place to poach sales talent. There’s a good farm club.” Ex-Googlers led enterprises tend to command more attention from the media and investors alike. Plus, it’s hard to pass up the chance to be the top dog at a growing company, even one not as iconic as Google. “There’s something very satisfying about having the ultimate authority,” Keane says.

Of course, many ex-Google employees have yet to meet success or failure. There are former Google marketing or sales employees at promising startups including (but not limited to) FriendFeed, Media6Degrees, Factual and Edo Interactive. Other sales staffers left for spots at the likes of LimeWire and web video startup Veoh, which was bought while on the brink of bankruptcy. For now, whether they turn out more like Sheryl Sandberg or Tim Armstrong is anyone’s guess.

Filed under: Contributors, Google