Google Maps turned 10 on Sunday, February 8, 2015. For a brief history of Google Maps, see Google’s Lat Long blog post, which features a nicely done graphical timeline. Its interesting that they include the purchase of Skybox Imaging. We have high hopes for the future of Skybox, but have not yet seen much impact from it on either Google Maps or Google Earth. Google Earth was first released under that name in 2005, but had previously existed as ‘EarthViewer 3D’ under Keyhole Inc. since 2001. The Lat Long blog’s timeline disagrees with Wikipedia about the exact date of the release of Google Earth.
Google Maps’ Earth View.
Over the years Google Earth and Google Maps have shared and exchanged features to the point where Google Maps now has ‘Earth View’, which is heading towards a Google Earth equivalent in a browser. It is however not yet a Google Earth replacement.
About Timothy Whitehead
Timothy has been using Google Earth since 2004 when it was still called Keyhole before it was renamed Google Earth in 2005 and has been a huge fan ever since. He is a programmer working for Red Wing Aerobatx and lives in Cape Town, South Africa.
Well at least the Google Maps team is looking ahead “to the next 10 years” and hope “you’re as excited as we are to navigate uncharted territory in pursuit of the perfect map—together.” So is that a hint of a merger of Maps and Earth, and a contribution from Earth to make the product perfect? And does the Maps team really mean they intend to work together with users to achieve their goal, or is it just PR speak?
What an astounding ten year (or 14 year) arc. I’ve been wandering the deserts and forests of the western US mapping and surveying for 42 years, going back to the time of slide rules (barely). Regarding what appears to be cubical-wars over who is working with whom, and other interoffice nerd-rah – this is a really cool, good product and a great service to mankind. The next ten years should be very interesting.
John R
“It is however not yet a Google Earth replacement.”
And it will never be a Google Earth replacement worthy of the performance that the standalone program could possibly provide. The “new” Google Maps is awful enough already, putting the “Google Earth in a browser” performance overhead on top of that is atrocious. It’s just the wrong way to go (not that going the obviously wrong way has ever stopped anyone at Google…).