If you're like me, you're using Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) Maps for all of your navigation needs today. I know about the wealth of alternatives, but the Google application just works for me. However, it's no use when I'm on the road and might actually get lost, because my low-end cell phone just doesn't support it.

As of yesterday, many of the people stuck in my predicament needn't worry anymore, as Google released a version of Google Maps Mobile for devices like the Palm (NASDAQ:PALM) Treo line of smartphones. That includes the Treo 680, which Palm announced separately on the same day, along with word on an ambitious global marketing campaign. In other words, expect to get your fill of Treo commercials soon. And judging from the timing of these announcements, those spots should highlight the mapping support quite prominently.

Granted, Google's announcement added only three supported models to an already impressive list of 338 smartphones, high-end cell phones, PDAs, and whatnots. But the Treo is a popular product line, and Google says a Palm version has been the most common user request for some time. The best-selling Research In Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) BlackBerries are supported already, along with many Java-capable phones from major manufacturers like Nokia (NYSE:NOK), Motorola (NYSE:MOT), and Sony Ericsson.

The service still has its limitations, though. It won't work on phones with QUALCOMM's (NASDAQ:QCOM) Java framework installed -- yet -- which precludes T-Mobile's North American phones as well as most of what Alltel and Verizon (NYSE:VZ) Wireless have to offer. But Google's developers are still on the case, and who knows -- maybe one day my humble phone will be supported, too, and I can stop getting lost in the local labyrinth.

This isn't a huge deal for Google. Google Maps, like most of the non-core projects the company has going, isn't supposed to drive significant revenues quite yet, and adding Treo support won't change that. But it's yet another mindshare-building step, as well as a little bit of additional presence outside the company's traditional PC-based browser domain.

The way I see it, Google is looking to do two things these days: one, get as many people as possible to sign up for Google login IDs, and two, move into our living rooms, our portable gadgets, and the world all around us. The logins will let Google track us and build up a detailed user profile. That, in turn, will enable highly targeted advertising through whatever media in which the company manages to establish a foothold -- television, radio, billboards, SMS messages, you name it.

A lot of people think Google is valued too richly for its online-ad revenue base, and rightly so. But you'll see that name in many, many offline properties within the next couple of years. The U.S. advertising market alone is worth about $150 billion a year, according to research firm TNS Media Intelligence, and Google wants a much larger slice of that pie than the measly $8 billion or so spent on Internet ads. If or when that happens, Google will grow into its valuation -- and far beyond.

Further Foolishness:

Palm is a Motley Fool Stock Advisor recommendation. Find out what David Gardner sees in the gadget guru with a 30-day free trial to our flagship service. Alltel is an Income Investor pick.

Fool contributor Anders Bylund holds no position in any of the companies discussed here, but it's really time he invested in a better phone. You can check out Anders' holdingson your BlackBerry or Treo. Foolishdisclosureis always on the go.