{"id":1836377,"date":"2025-02-07T11:58:03","date_gmt":"2025-02-07T16:58:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1836377"},"modified":"2025-02-07T11:58:04","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T16:58:04","slug":"google-maps-at-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/02\/google-maps-at-20\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Maps at 20"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Google Maps launched 20 years ago today. Here\u2019s what I posted at the time<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

First impressions. This is frigging amazing, with smooth scrolling and zooming: you\u2019re not constantly reloading pages like in MapQuest. Huge mapping surface. And drop shadows. […] I\u2019m impressed by the detail. They\u2019ve got my area, which is kind of a rural backwater: they\u2019ve got the roads all named, but strangely not the towns. Oh well, data\u2019s rarely perfect\u2014especially when it\u2019s just a beta launch. And for a beta this is\u00a0awfully<\/em>\u00a0impressive.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

A flurry of additional announcements followed in quick sucession: the launch of Google Earth, the Maps API that enabled people to build their own maps on top of Google\u2019s interface. The mid-2000s were a busy time for online maps, let me tell you. I had so much to keep up with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The development and origins of Google Maps, and Google Earth, are the subject of the latest and timely installment<\/a> of James Killick\u2019s \u201c12 Map Happenings that Rocked Our World.\u201d It seems that the Maps side of things was largely about providing Google search results through a map interface, and when you look at Google\u2019s post commemorating the 20th anniversary<\/a>, which highlights 20 features of Google Maps, it\u2019s clear how expansive<\/em> that idea has become.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

James also makes reference to a book I somehow completely missed when it came out: Never Lost Again: The Google Mapping Revolution That Sparked New Industries and Augmented Our Reality<\/strong><\/a><\/em>, an insider history by Google project manager Bill Kilday. (Harper Business<\/a>, 2018). Amazon<\/a> (Canada<\/a>, UK<\/a>), Bookshop<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Google Maps launched 20 years ago today. Here\u2019s what I posted at the time: First impressions. This is frigging amazing, with smooth scrolling and zooming: you\u2019re not constantly reloading pages like in MapQuest. Huge mapping… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[121,80,114],"tags":[462,82],"class_list":["post-1836377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-industry","category-mobile","category-web-mapping","tag-google","tag-google-maps","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5388,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2012\/09\/reactions-to-apples-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":1836377,"position":0},"title":"Reactions to Apple’s Maps","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"20 September 2012","format":"link","excerpt":"Apple's maps have been out for 26 hours, and they're already getting pummelled. See coverage from AppleInsider, BBC News and MacRumors. Ian Betteridge: \"iOS 6 Maps is a mess.\" Max Slater-Robins: \"Apple Maps is, in a word, awful.\" What's happened here is that Google Maps usage has become so ubiquitous,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Map Errors"","block_context":{"text":"Map Errors","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/map-errors\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5991,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2015\/06\/rip-yahoo-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":1836377,"position":1},"title":"RIP Yahoo Maps","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"4 June 2015","format":"link","excerpt":"Citing changing priorities, Yahoo announced today that Yahoo Maps is among the products that it will be shutting down; it'll go dark at the end of this month. \"However,\" says Yahoo chief architect Amotz Maimon, \"in the context of Yahoo search and on several other Yahoo properties including Flickr, we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Industry"","block_context":{"text":"Industry","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/industry\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1817545,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2023\/07\/apple-maps-roundup-for-july-2023\/","url_meta":{"origin":1836377,"position":2},"title":"Apple Maps Roundup for July 2023","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"26 July 2023","format":"link","excerpt":"Downloadable maps are coming to Apple Maps in iOS 17 this fall. Ars Technica looks at how they\u2019ll work, and how they\u2019ll compare to Google Maps\u2019 offline maps (at the moment\u2014which to be sure is with the iOS 17 public beta\u2014Apple\u2019s offline maps take up much more space but also\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mobile"","block_context":{"text":"Mobile","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/mobile\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5318,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2012\/05\/new-maps-in-ios-6\/","url_meta":{"origin":1836377,"position":3},"title":"Apple to Abandon Google Maps in iOS 6?","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"12 May 2012","format":"link","excerpt":"There are rumours that for iOS 6, the next version of the operating system for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, Apple will replace Google Maps with an in-house mapping application with an impressive 3D mode; the app will apparently \"blow your head off,\" to quote John Paczkowski's source. Much\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mobile"","block_context":{"text":"Mobile","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/mobile\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1808,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/05\/what-happened-to-google-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":1836377,"position":4},"title":"‘What Happened to Google Maps?’","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"2 May 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"In an essay called \"What Happened to Google Maps?\" Justin O'Beirne notes that between 2010 and 2016 Google Maps has changed from emphasizing cities at the expense of roads to emphasizing the road network at the expense of cities\u2014a turn he chalks up to the shift to mobile device usage\u2014and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cartography"","block_context":{"text":"Cartography","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/cartography\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"obeirne-google","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/obeirne-google-1024x558.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/obeirne-google-1024x558.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/obeirne-google-1024x558.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/obeirne-google-1024x558.png?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5321,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2012\/06\/apple-replaces-google-maps-on-ios\/","url_meta":{"origin":1836377,"position":5},"title":"Apple Replaces Google Maps on iOS","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"11 June 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"So last week Google held a press event outlining several upcoming features and innovations in Google Maps, including the ability to use maps offline on Android (i.e., without a network connection), some pretty impressive 3D imagery, and shrinking the Street View camera so that it'll fit in a backpack. 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