Finding the Way to Google Maps

Monday 25 May 2020
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It's hard to remember what it took to get around before the invention of Google Maps. But the technology has changed everything from daily routes to road trips to navigating unknown territory. Because of Google Maps, the entire globe seems reachable. But the road to inventing Google Maps? That's another story. In this episode of Teamistry, host Gabriela Cowperthwaite uncovers the tale of this indispensable technology and the team that built it. In 2001, Lars Rasmussen, Jens Rasmussen, Noel Gordon, and Stephen Ma are developing a product they believe will change the mapping landscape. But like so many great inventions before it, "Where 2 Technologies" – not yet Google Maps – is just a fledgling startup run from a small room in Sydney, and constantly one wrong turn away from a dead end. Rent checks bounce, savings accounts evaporate. The dream could be only a mirage on the distant horizon. But the team discovers a way to keep going, to find new pathways, until they reach their final destination. Hear from G

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