We all know Google Maps. Maps and navigation service is one of the most used, both on mobile and in its web version, but few know its history. Contrary to what we could think, he did not start as a great project of the search engines, no. Its beginnings were more modest and keep a curious story, the Its unknown co-founder.
If five years ago, he celebrated his fifteenth birthday, he now added five others: on the occasion of his recently finished 20th anniversary, Google highlights some of its most useful functions. And we also know the history of its origin, and in particular of its anonymous co-founder: the one who He wants to claim And that recognizes the work of those who accompanied him.
One of Google Maps' parents was, so far, unknown
Stephen Ma is the protagonist of this story, which involves the Google application used by millions of people. He has all the details on how, being one of the four cards co-founders, he spent all these years anonymous. Remember it's time to get known.
Write in the history of the Google Maps Foundation. This is the reason why my, 54, Australian, changed his mind. In addition to contributing to the recognition of colleagues who have neglected. Let's start to know its origin.
Cooma, rural city of Nueva Wales del Sur. For 20 years, Stephen worked with his family in a Chinese restaurant: a company that provided them with a livelihood. However, the protagonist remembers having a normal childhood, next to the tastes certainly bullies.
“I have done many stereotypical things of technological nerds, such as playing video games and learning to program on an Apple II computer.” In 1998, once graduated at the university and with work in Sydney, he received an offer from Silicon Valley. It was not the inflection point in historyBecause in the early 2000s, the bubble broke out and finished unemployment.
The return to Sydney, Key. After his return to his country, he was contacted by a former colleague named Noel Gordon, who invited him to join, as well as two other unemployed software engineers, to a startup. Gordon wanted to build a new type of mapping platform.
“In fact, I am surprised to see how similar Google Maps is today,” said my shipping program
An easy to beat rival. The undisputed leader of this time on the online card market was Mapquest, bought by the Giant AOL in 1999 for around 1.1 billion dollars. However, it was a premature service, which was to print the step -by -step indications of the computer.
Where 2 technologies. With this name, the four partners settled in a room in Gordon's apartment, located in Hill Hill (Sydney). They have developed a Windows program called Expedition, already with certain similarities with current Google Maps.
They used this demonstration to present it to a venture capital company, Sequoia Capita, which, after the launch of the SmartView function (search for restaurants and entertainment places) by Yahoo Maps, rejected the idea of the place where 2 technologies. It was the turn that changed everything: through the company They met Google. And so, they presented Expedition to Larry Page.
From Windows to the web. Google's request and co-founder criticism
Page was impressed, but he had no interest in office software: “We really like the website.” Where 2 took letters in this area and created a shipping web version using known web development techniques of the Ajax acronym, essential for a website to be updated without refreshing The whole page.
The second shipping demo was a catapult. Google hired where 2 technologies technologies bought its intellectual property. The amount of the transaction is unknown, but BA recognizes that in Google, they have chosen teams “at very low prices” for the lack of competition.
The clues point to $ 66 millionthat they would have divided between several owners. On June 7, 2004, where 2 seemed to work as Google's employees in the company's office in Sydney and eight months later, Google Maps made its debut. The rest is history.
Doubts with Google Maps for confidentiality. Scott Mcquire of Melbourne University said it was a “big product”, accepted its success, but criticized the nature of the application. “These are very precious data for all types of people who wish to collect information about you.” On this subject, my thinking that data exploration was not on the radar when he worked, he recognizes that he is worrying because it is users who have the task of keeping transparent companies.
And alarm for the Satellite navigation effect on brain functions. There is emerging anxiety about the effect that excessive dependence on satellite navigation has on brain function. Scientific studies suggest that we undergo a reduction in the hippocampus, and therefore a cognitive impairment. My admitted that there are potential dangers but that we should be more aware than worried.
The best reward is satisfaction “Know that so many people use something” that you have done yourself. This puts an end to the Stephen Ma interview, who underlines his colleagues Jens and Lars Rasmussen as the people who should obtain the most praise.
Until now, it has only worked in startups, none of which has succeeded. Currently, he manages with a health partner Reggie, who uses AI to automate the administrative tasks of medical care providers. He will not lead him to be popular as it could be with Google Maps, but his imprint is there.
Cover image | Gemini published in Photoshop
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