Google Maps is one of the most relied upon web applications of our current decade. It wasn't too long ago that we were all using the antiquated TomTom or Megellan. Now people rely on the maps on their phone many times a day and would be lost without it. But the history of Google's venture into the mapping game wasn't always promising, as they had many competitors working to solve the same problem. In true Google fashion, they were able to essentially buy most of their competitors, creating what is currently the most used maps in the world.
When Google first released the original version of Google Maps, it blew users away. Google's leading competitor, MapQuest, gave directions that were laid on top of maps, which was impressive. But never before had anyone made explorable maps in the form of tiles until Google came along. Everyone immediately saw the potential that this technology held, but the product still needed a lot of work. The map was only of the United States, while showing a mass of water where most of South America should have been. The early versions of searching by location just did not work at all, which didn't become more accurate until they made a deal with YellowPages. So Google continued to seek talent in outside areas to fill in the missing pieces of their product.
Keyhole was probably the most key acquisition that Google made early on to help jump start their maps. At the time, Keyhole was a small software company selling a satellite map desktop application for $69.99. Google came to them with the idea to take their work and bring it to the web. After a tough decision between Google and many venture capitalists to continue their startup, Keyhole made the deal in hopes to see a better future with open access to mapping technologies.
Where2, a small danish startup, was probably most responsible for creating the Google maps we know and love today. Looking at MapQuest's way of displaying directions based on routes, Where2 had the idea to change the display of the map. Instead, they wanted to create maps you can scroll on and zoom in and out. The company was fairly new with pretty much just an idea before they lost all their funding due to a deal between Yahoo Maps and YellowPages. With Where2 out of cash and Google having no mapping product, they made the perfect match. The team went on to develop some of the most early web technologies to access the mapping data from anywhere, which later became known as AJAX. The team was even accredited for the idea of using a pin to mark locations which is far better than Yahoo's star.
The next startup Google picked up was Zipdash, a company working on a traffic application. Zipdash was pretty much an early version of Wayz, too early. They had only developed the application for Nextel phones and were focusing on acquiring and analyzing data from taxi drivers in San Francisco. Google purchased Zipdash for 2 million, which was pretty small considering Wayz got 5 billion, and immediately put them to work on the mobile version of Google Maps.
Probably the biggest revolution for maps was the development of the mobile app. Considering our phones always know where we are, and are always with us, we suddenly have a whole new way to travel around our world. The introduction to gps on our phones is the amazing technology that allows us to order pizza in one click, call an Uber to your location, or find the nearest sub shop. When the phone grew powerful enough to handle the mapping technology, smartphones took off, and maps did with it.
Probably the greatest deal Google landed was with Apple to put their maps preloaded on every phone. Although the relationship between Google and Apple was never friendly, they both needed each other, and gained off of the others successes. But when Apple decided to completely drop Google's Maps from their phones in 2012 bringing on their own product, Google was caught with their pants down. For almost three months they did not have a working mobile version of their maps. Still, many people stuck it out with Google, rejecting Apple's iMaps for the bugs they had early on.
The next big project Google has on its plate is StreetView. Google has been employing convoys to take pictures all over the world for 3-D imaging purposes. Lately they have run into quite a few lawsuits which resulted in them having to blur out the faces and license plates in their images. For places like Germany, they are not allowed to take any pictures due to the countries privacy laws.
Google's venture into the map industry is truly inspiring. The way they went about acquiring all the necessary talent to complete their vision is the ultimate example of creating an empire. Something many people couldn't see a use for ten years ago is now a very essential part of our daily lives. The future for the technology is still very fruitful and could help us solve some of our world problems. Some people even believe Google has laid the ground work for one of the greatest innovations soon to come, "self-driving cars".
http://recode.net/2015/02/08/ten-years-of-google-maps-from-slashdot-to-ground-truth/
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