The invention of Google Maps

During the Vietnam War, North Vietnamese VietCong guerrillas built a vast network of tunnels in the south of the country as part of the insurgency against the South Vietnamese government and their American allies. The tunnel network was a key base and shelter for the North Vietna ...  Show more

In 1968, American television boldly went where it had never gone before, broadcasting what's claimed to be the country's first interracial kiss in a TV programme. The moment of passion was between Captain Kirk of the starship USS Enterprise and communications officer Lieutenant U ...  Show more

When out-of-work coder Jens Rasmussen couldn’t find directions to a cafe in Copenhagen, he wound up changing navigation forever. Alongside his brother Lars (also an out-of-work coder), Jens developed a radical vision—not just for a faster map, but a vibrant, multi-dimensional pla ...  Show more

Subscribe to The Best Idea Yet here: https://wondery.com/links/the-best-idea-yet/When out-of-work coder Jens Rasmussen couldn’t find directions to a cafe in Copenhagen, he wound up changing navigation forever. Alongside his brother Lars (also an out-of-work coder), Jens developed ...  Show more

Ben and David cover the series of three 2004 Google acquisitions that formed the core of Google Maps as we know and love it today: Where 2 Technologies, Keyhole and ZipDash. From nearly zero adoption between the three companies at the time of acquisition to well over 1 billion us ...  Show more

Aleks Krotoski examines what digital mapping has meant for our understanding of the world. Are we always aware of the decisions that make them look the way they do? Traditionally of course maps are as "authored" as anything else. As Simon Garfield writer of On the Map: Why the wo ...  Show more