Never Lost Again by Bill Kilday

Author:Bill Kilday
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2018-06-04T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Launching Google Maps Mania

At 5:30 a.m. on a chilly morning in late January of 2005, the forty-person Keyhole team (we had already begun to multiply our ranks) quietly shuffled onto a sleek black shuttle bus outside of Building 41. Our Wi-Fi-enabled charter bus was one of the forty-five queued up around the Googleplex that morning, ready to transport the entire company five hours from Mountain View to the Squaw Valley Ski Resort near Lake Tahoe. This trip was an annual affair, starting in 2000. Google had rented out the entire mountain for two days for its exclusive use. (This year turned out to be the last before the company divided the trip into more manageable waves.)

When we arrived on the mountain, it was a glorious blue-sky day. After checking in to our luxurious rooms, most of the team hit the slopes. John and Brian had purchased several dozen neon-green GPS location logging devices made by Garmin. At the base of the mountain, near the ski lifts, we set up a table where Googlers heading up the slopes could check out a GPS device in order to log their ski runs. When they returned, we downloaded their data and sent them an EarthViewer KML file that allowed them to virtually relive their experiences on the mountain that day (complete with tracks and speeds recorded). Many of the GPS logging devices of the day had begun adopting John Rohlf’s KML standard, making Keyhole EarthViewer the preferred tool for visualizing the data collected. It was likely the first time that consumers (and Googlers) could see their locations represented as dots on top of realistic maps of aerial and satellite imagery.

John hoped to use this GPS stunt to give other Google engineers a glimpse of the innovative work being done on his new team, and to potentially lure others to come and join the growing Google mapping efforts.

For many Googlers, the demonstration of GPS-tracked ski runs by John and the Keyhole team was their first introduction to Google’s mapping initiatives. Several Google employees on the ski trip openly questioned our strategy and plans, with little understanding of what the teams were working on in Building 41.

One might think, in the weeks prior to the launch of Google Maps, that the entire company might have been anxiously preparing for the announcement. In reality, few in the company had any idea what we were up to or gave it much thought. To other employees, we were just another team going about our business, preparing for the launch of another product. There were no expectations outside of Building 41, and in fact I don’t think anyone inside Building 41 had any idea of the mapping mania that we were about to unleash.

The launch date was slated for mid-February of 2005. The product magically combined three features: a fast, fluid, browser-based map; a huge database of aerial and satellite imagery; and a comprehensive Google search with up-to-date geographic data. Of these features, launching with aerial and satellite

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