WEBVTT - TechStuff Navigates Google Maps 0:00:02.360 --> 0:00:05.680 Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from House Stuff. 0:00:05.720 --> 0:00:14.840 What's hey there, everyone, and welcome to Tech Stuff. My 0:00:14.960 --> 0:00:19.400 name is Jonathan Strickland, Host extraordinaire, and I'm Lauren Vocal Bomb. 0:00:19.480 --> 0:00:22.520 I'm sitting across from it. I'm there you go. She's 0:00:22.560 --> 0:00:26.799 basking in the glory that is the Strickland. It is 0:00:26.840 --> 0:00:29.520 the end of a long day here at How Stuff 0:00:29.520 --> 0:00:32.880 Works Headquarters. I don't know where I am anymore, which 0:00:32.960 --> 0:00:36.040 is good because we're talking about Google Maps, so hopefully 0:00:36.080 --> 0:00:37.800 I will be able to find some direction in my 0:00:37.880 --> 0:00:39.640 life by the end of the show, because we live 0:00:39.640 --> 0:00:41.720 in the incredible future. So you have a cellphone in 0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:44.920 your pocket, right? Uh? Well, technically my cellphones at my desk, 0:00:44.960 --> 0:00:46.640 but normally, yes, I would in fact have it in 0:00:46.640 --> 0:00:48.680 my pocket. Okay, you have hypothetical cell phone in your 0:00:48.760 --> 0:00:52.440 hypothetical pocket. I'll roll with that. Therefore, you are connected 0:00:52.520 --> 0:00:55.040 to a network of systems that knows exactly where you are. 0:00:55.360 --> 0:01:00.640 It's both reassuring and yet terrifying, which I think should 0:01:00.640 --> 0:01:03.280 be the slogan for Google Maps. I used to have 0:01:03.320 --> 0:01:07.560 that on my business card. Jonathan Strickland. Reassuring and yet terrifying. Well, 0:01:07.640 --> 0:01:10.479 let's let's talk a little bit about Google Maps now. Now, Lauren, 0:01:10.560 --> 0:01:13.399 I know and your research because we alluded to it 0:01:13.520 --> 0:01:16.760 earlier before we actually sat down at the microphones. You 0:01:16.800 --> 0:01:19.800 said you had sort of a kind of a grand 0:01:19.880 --> 0:01:25.160 scale timeline of the Google Maps experience, which is not 0:01:25.280 --> 0:01:27.240 what I was looking up. So I would be fascinating 0:01:27.240 --> 0:01:29.320 to hear a little bit more about this, of course. Yes, 0:01:29.360 --> 0:01:32.360 And this is an extremely comple complex timeline that I 0:01:32.560 --> 0:01:35.600 that I paged together from a single document that Google 0:01:35.640 --> 0:01:38.120 has up on its website. So don't don't tell them 0:01:38.120 --> 0:01:40.800 how the sausage is made, Lauren, We are brilliant. They 0:01:40.840 --> 0:01:43.080 don't know that. I actually want to go a little 0:01:43.080 --> 0:01:47.240 bit back before their timeline starts to which was when 0:01:47.400 --> 0:01:50.800 map Quest launched. Oh yeah, now see, I remember the 0:01:50.840 --> 0:01:53.680 map Quest days. Uh, folks, For those of you who 0:01:53.680 --> 0:01:57.520 have never used the web back in the mid nineties, 0:01:57.960 --> 0:02:01.520 that quest was a revelation because it was this idea that, hey, 0:02:01.800 --> 0:02:04.600 there's this place I want to go. But I don't 0:02:04.880 --> 0:02:07.480 read maps very well. I don't like having to sit 0:02:07.520 --> 0:02:10.320 there and stare at intersections, and I don't I don't know, 0:02:10.520 --> 0:02:13.200 I don't understand how the folding works, or I haven't 0:02:13.200 --> 0:02:15.320 purchased the right one for this area. I don't know 0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:18.160 which streets are one way versus two way, and then 0:02:18.200 --> 0:02:20.440 I end up making a plan that ends up wrecking 0:02:20.480 --> 0:02:23.280 about a dozen cars, and I'm in a Michael Bay movie. 0:02:23.320 --> 0:02:27.600 Suddenly these are all bad things in my personal experience. Uh, 0:02:27.680 --> 0:02:30.720 Michael Bay, if you want me in your next movie anyway, 0:02:31.480 --> 0:02:35.160 I can't explode the But the important thing here was 0:02:35.200 --> 0:02:40.480 that you could actually plot out a pathway. Now, back 0:02:40.520 --> 0:02:43.800 then that was pre mobile web for most parts, so 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:47.440 you ended up having to physically print the document that 0:02:47.440 --> 0:02:50.079 would give you the turn by turn directions and then 0:02:50.120 --> 0:02:52.040 take that with you in the car, in the place 0:02:52.080 --> 0:02:54.519 of a more traditional map, which the company that created 0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:58.920 map Quest actually began by making traditional maps, and they 0:02:58.919 --> 0:03:01.600 still do. I think probably you couldn't. You could even 0:03:01.639 --> 0:03:05.120 have a voice turn by turn if you had a 0:03:05.160 --> 0:03:08.480 passenger read out, hey, you know that street we just passed, 0:03:08.520 --> 0:03:10.200 We totally should have turned there. They could do it 0:03:10.200 --> 0:03:11.799 in a robot voice if they if you really want 0:03:11.840 --> 0:03:14.440 them to. Almost every single person who's written with me 0:03:14.600 --> 0:03:19.239 eventually starts to talk like a robot. That's interesting and 0:03:19.720 --> 0:03:24.440 all right for reassuring and terrifying. I'm not sure if 0:03:24.440 --> 0:03:28.120 that one's reassuring at all anyway. Um So, so yeah, 0:03:28.200 --> 0:03:31.120 let's you know, Matt Quest enjoyed a good several years 0:03:31.160 --> 0:03:34.840 on the web pretty much unrivaled, and then then in 0:03:35.240 --> 0:03:38.320 two thousand four, Google which at the time, do you 0:03:38.320 --> 0:03:42.880 know what Google was doing in two thousand four, Jesus 0:03:45.560 --> 0:03:50.800 when Google incorporates, I would have been discussing with Yahoo 0:03:50.800 --> 0:03:53.360 in two thousand. No, I don't know what happened in 0:03:53.360 --> 0:03:57.080 two Well neither do I. So this is this is terrific, 0:03:57.200 --> 0:04:00.640 that's awesome. So that was a question of true you 0:04:00.720 --> 0:04:05.120 really wanted to know? I bet Google was looking around. Well, okay, 0:04:05.120 --> 0:04:07.640 so at this time Google had already started to figure 0:04:07.640 --> 0:04:11.360 out how to monetize search. Okay, so this part I 0:04:11.400 --> 0:04:13.360 can talk about just off the top of my head, 0:04:13.720 --> 0:04:17.800 Google had cracked the code on monetizing search. And in fact, 0:04:17.920 --> 0:04:20.279 if you look at Google as a company, a lot 0:04:20.320 --> 0:04:24.120 of analysts will tell you Google really is an ad company, 0:04:24.200 --> 0:04:27.560 not a search company. They serve up ads. They happen 0:04:27.640 --> 0:04:31.520 to do that primarily through search. Well, they also determined 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:34.479 that searching it goes beyond just searching for a term 0:04:34.520 --> 0:04:36.680 and getting a web page back. It also could mean 0:04:37.000 --> 0:04:39.800 finding ways to get to stuff. Now, Google did not 0:04:39.880 --> 0:04:43.400 necessarily have the people in the house to develop that 0:04:43.520 --> 0:04:45.919 sort of technology from the ground up, right, and that 0:04:46.040 --> 0:04:48.640 is why they acquired two companies. They acquired where to 0:04:48.920 --> 0:04:52.920 and also Keyhole UM. Now, where Too was a Sydney 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:56.760 based company, UM Design, run by two Danish brothers, I believe, 0:04:56.839 --> 0:05:00.560 and yes, I can never say that, So I'm glad 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:03.520 that you did um and uh and uh. Keyhole was 0:05:03.560 --> 0:05:06.640 the company UM that had the software that would become 0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:09.719 Google Earth. Okay, all right, so yeah, so you've got 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:14.360 the foundations for mapping software and and Google Earth, which 0:05:14.960 --> 0:05:17.720 Google Earth is a is a wonderful tool and it's 0:05:17.760 --> 0:05:20.120 really super cool. We will not be talking a lot 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:22.240 about Google Earth in this podcast because it really goes 0:05:22.279 --> 0:05:24.760 outside the realm of what we're chatting about. We might 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:27.000 allude to it once or twice, but it's sort of 0:05:27.040 --> 0:05:30.640 its own thing as opposed to you know, it's like 0:05:30.680 --> 0:05:33.120 a separate product from Google Map. Sure, and bits of 0:05:33.160 --> 0:05:35.159 it have been integrated to Google Maps to make it 0:05:35.200 --> 0:05:37.920 the rich experience that it is today, But for the 0:05:37.960 --> 0:05:41.400 most part it is a separate issue, but but integral 0:05:41.520 --> 0:05:44.800 to to creating the Google Maps experience that that we 0:05:44.839 --> 0:05:47.240 know of today. So that was that was two thousand four. 0:05:47.279 --> 0:05:52.200 Two thousand five, UM February is when the the project 0:05:52.200 --> 0:05:55.000 of Google Maps was announced on the Google blog, and 0:05:55.080 --> 0:05:58.640 at that time, Google Maps was available only through two 0:05:58.800 --> 0:06:03.000 web browsers. Those web browsers were Bob's who lived in 0:06:03.160 --> 0:06:06.080 No wait, no, I'm sorry, web browsers not just two people. 0:06:06.600 --> 0:06:10.080 One was an Internet Explorer, which was at the time 0:06:10.279 --> 0:06:16.320 the dominant, overwhelmingly dominant browser. It's interesting to see like 0:06:16.360 --> 0:06:20.400 the whole rise and fall of the various browsers. Uh. 0:06:20.440 --> 0:06:23.880 And the other one was not Netscape. Netscape was already 0:06:24.320 --> 0:06:26.880 off the charts at that point. It was Mozilla, which 0:06:26.960 --> 0:06:31.240 we would eventually think of as Firefox because Firefox it 0:06:31.320 --> 0:06:34.599 was not. You know, Firefox is not a Firefox is 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:36.960 a direct descendanto Mozilla, but it's kind of a branch 0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:40.360 it split off. But anyway, at the time, those were 0:06:40.360 --> 0:06:45.120 the two browsers that supported Google Maps, right um. Also 0:06:45.160 --> 0:06:48.560 in two thousand five, in June, Google Earth and Google 0:06:48.560 --> 0:06:51.520 Maps API both launched. Right a p I that's an 0:06:51.560 --> 0:06:57.280 applications program that allows developers to create stuff that works 0:06:57.360 --> 0:07:00.760 with whatever it is the product is, so lots of 0:07:00.800 --> 0:07:04.560 different products have this, not just in Google. Application programming 0:07:04.560 --> 0:07:07.799 interfaces technically what API stands for So this is an 0:07:07.880 --> 0:07:12.239 interface that lets you build extra cool stuff that uses 0:07:12.520 --> 0:07:16.280 the technology developed by someone else. So Facebook, for example, 0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:19.960 has an API that allows people to build the various 0:07:20.040 --> 0:07:24.680 games and other apps that run within the context of Facebook. 0:07:25.080 --> 0:07:29.920 So the Google Maps API gave opportunities to other web 0:07:29.920 --> 0:07:34.320 pages to have this stuff integrated into their page. So 0:07:34.400 --> 0:07:37.200 you might see this was kind of a response to 0:07:37.240 --> 0:07:40.480 hackers who hackers were sitting there and they were kind 0:07:40.520 --> 0:07:44.080 of reverse engineering Google Maps to figure out how it 0:07:44.160 --> 0:07:48.960 worked and to try and give it new abilities based 0:07:49.000 --> 0:07:51.920 upon their own experience. And Google eventually said, you know what, 0:07:52.200 --> 0:07:53.960 let's just go ahead and create an API to make 0:07:53.960 --> 0:07:57.360 this easier because there's some really cool stuff happening out there. Yeah. 0:07:57.440 --> 0:08:00.760 And also once you once you give people capacity to 0:08:00.920 --> 0:08:03.160 use your product on their page, then you can add 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:06.160 your advertising into it. And yet again they are an 0:08:06.200 --> 0:08:08.640 advertising company. It turns out a lot more people use 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:10.800 your stuff if you make it easier to use. Who 0:08:10.800 --> 0:08:15.800 would have funked it? Absolutely insane? Um And in October 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:19.720 of two five Maps for Mobile launched and uh, and 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:22.480 that was that was back early enough in in cell 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:26.880 phone service industry that maybe not that many people were 0:08:27.120 --> 0:08:30.000 capable of using it. Yeah, two thousand five, you're talking 0:08:30.040 --> 0:08:33.800 about a time when, uh, you know, smartphones. If you 0:08:33.840 --> 0:08:36.040 listen to our history of Smartphones episodes and if you 0:08:36.080 --> 0:08:40.040 have it, it's okay, we'll wait. But you know that 0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:42.520 that's pretty early on in the history of smartphones. I 0:08:42.520 --> 0:08:44.679 mean until we hit two thousand seven, when the iPhone 0:08:44.720 --> 0:08:48.080 comes out, smartphones did not really become a big thing 0:08:48.320 --> 0:08:53.480 in the consumer market. I mean, we had prosumers and executives, 0:08:54.400 --> 0:08:56.320 people in the business market, people who needed to be 0:08:56.360 --> 0:08:59.080 connected to their email all the time and bury all 0:08:59.120 --> 0:09:01.480 that kind of stuff above our pay grade. You know, 0:09:01.559 --> 0:09:04.079 they were taking advantage of the stuff. But yeah, it's 0:09:04.120 --> 0:09:07.040 kind of interesting that the Google got into that. Now, granted, 0:09:07.040 --> 0:09:10.760 it makes perfect sense, right because it's again, why why 0:09:10.760 --> 0:09:13.040 are you using these map programs in the first place. 0:09:13.080 --> 0:09:15.040 It's usually because you have to find your way to 0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:17.920 some other location, and so it needs to do that. 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:21.160 Most often, possibly business travelers have people who are going places. 0:09:21.520 --> 0:09:23.280 It turns out that if you want to get from 0:09:23.280 --> 0:09:25.560 point A to point B, it's not always convenient to 0:09:25.559 --> 0:09:29.480 carry a desktop computer with you lit the way, yes, yes, 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:33.040 um okay yeah. And then then two thousand and six 0:09:33.160 --> 0:09:35.640 was when um, some of Google Earth's satellite images started 0:09:35.679 --> 0:09:39.920 to be integrated into maps. Very cool, making everything shiny um. 0:09:39.960 --> 0:09:43.839 And then in July Live Traffic on Mobile launched a 0:09:44.160 --> 0:09:46.599 cool Yeah traffic is very cool. Yeah, we'll talk a 0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:49.640 little bit about how they do that later on. It's 0:09:52.200 --> 0:09:55.720 mostly neat. It knows where you are, but but not 0:09:55.880 --> 0:10:00.000 you just you there. We go pretty much summed it up. 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:01.760 We will repeat it later in the show. Don't worry 0:10:01.920 --> 0:10:06.800 with a little bit more clarity and fewer pronouns. Uh 0:10:07.200 --> 0:10:10.600 so yeah. Two thousands seven was when my Maps launched, 0:10:11.280 --> 0:10:15.200 My Maps being um uh the capacity for individual users 0:10:15.240 --> 0:10:19.440 to make customized shareable maps without using that fancy API 0:10:19.520 --> 0:10:21.480 kind of stuff and needing to have an actual developer 0:10:21.480 --> 0:10:24.880 working in things. Cool. So this weird idea like, uh, 0:10:24.920 --> 0:10:27.560 if you want to create a map that showed off, 0:10:27.640 --> 0:10:32.600 say a particular hiking route or or jogging route or something, 0:10:32.640 --> 0:10:34.439 and you could send it off to someone else saying 0:10:34.520 --> 0:10:37.120 this is what I use because it's really well lit, 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:40.120 it's safe neighborhoods. That kind of stuff. Very useful. Yeah. Yeah, 0:10:40.120 --> 0:10:41.840 if you're having a progressive dinner party and you want 0:10:41.880 --> 0:10:43.640 to show people the route from one house to the next, 0:10:43.679 --> 0:10:46.520 something like that progressive dinner party, it sounds like a 0:10:46.559 --> 0:10:48.959 different thing than it is. I usually have re aggressive 0:10:49.000 --> 0:10:52.800 dinner parties where I just I just received further and 0:10:52.800 --> 0:10:56.160 further into the background that everyone who's listening is like, 0:10:56.200 --> 0:10:59.120 that is so not true. He just gets more and 0:10:59.160 --> 0:11:06.440 more boisterous. He does, He's but I have I have 0:11:06.520 --> 0:11:11.080 no transitions for any of that. In in may view, 0:11:11.679 --> 0:11:14.640 it was a thing that he um and and that 0:11:14.720 --> 0:11:17.200 was that was when. That was when they put some 0:11:17.240 --> 0:11:19.320 cameras on top of some cars and sent them out 0:11:19.360 --> 0:11:22.199 into the world and took a whole bunch of pictures 0:11:22.240 --> 0:11:26.080 of everything, upsetting some people, which we will talk about 0:11:26.120 --> 0:11:29.959 again later on in the podcast. Um but but but 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:33.440 giving you giving you the capacity to visit a place 0:11:33.559 --> 0:11:36.120 that you have never been and get an idea of 0:11:36.160 --> 0:11:38.559 what it's like to walk around there, very useful. I 0:11:38.559 --> 0:11:40.679 I used this when I took a trip to New 0:11:40.760 --> 0:11:43.079 York so I could figure out where I needed to 0:11:43.120 --> 0:11:46.280 go to catch the subway, and so I was looking 0:11:46.320 --> 0:11:50.720 for visual cues because I'm a Southerner and I was 0:11:50.760 --> 0:11:55.360 lost in New York City and uh speaking speaking of which, 0:11:55.520 --> 0:11:58.760 Google Transit was then integrated into maps in October. Yes, 0:11:59.120 --> 0:12:01.719 very useful, so extremely useful, especially for people who do 0:12:01.800 --> 0:12:04.840 not drive. Yes, this, this is the product that lets 0:12:04.880 --> 0:12:08.640 you look up things like public transportation schedules in various cities. 0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:11.000 And you know, they roll it out gradually. You know, 0:12:11.040 --> 0:12:14.200 they have to incorporate the data from various cities to 0:12:14.200 --> 0:12:15.960 to get it back to you. But it it is 0:12:16.000 --> 0:12:18.080 really really nifty. I use it all the time here 0:12:18.080 --> 0:12:20.839 in Atlanta where I'm going someplace where you know, I 0:12:20.880 --> 0:12:23.760 don't regularly go there, and I want to know, Okay, well, 0:12:23.800 --> 0:12:26.040 if I need to get there by a certain time, 0:12:26.600 --> 0:12:28.480 what time do I need to leave my house to 0:12:28.920 --> 0:12:32.400 make that happen? So yeah, very useful tool. Yeah. In 0:12:32.559 --> 0:12:37.400 April of two then walking directions were added, further furthering 0:12:37.679 --> 0:12:41.240 the capacity. I'm saying capacity a lot. This epiths. Okay, 0:12:42.400 --> 0:12:45.840 I often say the word pumpkin for no apparent reasons. Pumpkin. Yeah, 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:51.840 in technology podcasts, I can't explain it. Excellent, Okay, Walking 0:12:51.880 --> 0:12:56.400 directions April two eight, and then uh Matt Maker in August, 0:12:56.800 --> 0:13:01.600 which let people start to write in with changes, um 0:13:01.720 --> 0:13:05.120 corrections to Google Maps, which is one of the really 0:13:05.160 --> 0:13:08.000 big important things we think about the software. We'll definitely 0:13:08.040 --> 0:13:11.560 get into that too. Yes, Um October was Maps for 0:13:11.600 --> 0:13:17.559 Android launched, something that I use frequently. I mean, seriously, 0:13:17.559 --> 0:13:19.680 it's one of it's one of the reasons why I 0:13:19.679 --> 0:13:22.360 don't think I could ever go back from having a smartphone. 0:13:22.720 --> 0:13:27.080 Is the map feature, Absolutely, I mean they are integral 0:13:27.120 --> 0:13:29.040 to my use. I do not remember what I did 0:13:29.160 --> 0:13:31.720 before I had that information on my phone. I certainly 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:35.360 don't remember where I was. I spent a lot of 0:13:35.400 --> 0:13:40.240 time printing out directions. Um. October of two thousand nine 0:13:40.280 --> 0:13:43.200 is my next plot point in this in this audio drama, 0:13:43.360 --> 0:13:46.560 and that was turned by turn navigation and Android, another 0:13:46.640 --> 0:13:48.360 thing I use a lot, which, Yeah, back to that 0:13:48.480 --> 0:13:50.800 robot voice. You don't have to have a friend speaking 0:13:50.800 --> 0:13:53.240 in a robot voice anymore. Your your phone. You can 0:13:53.240 --> 0:13:55.000 be friendless and your phone will do that for you. 0:13:55.160 --> 0:13:57.760 I actually count my phone as one of my closest friends, 0:13:57.880 --> 0:14:03.839 because otherwise the list is really short. Two thousand and 0:14:03.920 --> 0:14:08.679 ten biking directions added. Yeah, yeah, that that's also pretty cool. Now, 0:14:08.720 --> 0:14:10.120 and again, this is one of those things that the 0:14:10.120 --> 0:14:15.080 crowdsourcing comes in handy. We'll talk about that again. Yeah. 0:14:15.080 --> 0:14:18.160 By by August of two tho, google maps mobile heads 0:14:18.160 --> 0:14:22.640 surpassed a hundred million monthly users. That's a bunch that's 0:14:22.680 --> 0:14:34.840 more than two um and uh, making making google Maps 0:14:34.880 --> 0:14:38.280 in fact so big um and so popular that by 0:14:38.360 --> 0:14:41.600 November there was this really interesting news item where there 0:14:41.640 --> 0:14:45.600 was an international dispute between Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Oh yeah, 0:14:45.680 --> 0:14:48.440 I read about this. So from what I understand, you 0:14:48.560 --> 0:14:51.760 had the borders were established between Nicaragua and Costa Rican. 0:14:52.160 --> 0:14:54.200 This is a border that's been it was. It was 0:14:54.240 --> 0:14:56.920 a disputed border, which Google Maps, by the way, will 0:14:56.960 --> 0:15:00.400 mark in red on international borders, but are in speed. 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:04.840 But but it had been settled in one way and uh. 0:15:04.880 --> 0:15:10.320 And then Nicaragua started to dig dig out part of 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:13.840 the river that separates the two countries, like they were 0:15:13.920 --> 0:15:17.240 dredging the river. And technically they were dredging the river 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:20.480 on the Costa Rica side of the border because they 0:15:20.520 --> 0:15:23.400 took some exceptions. Costa Rica was like, hey, dude, what 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:26.000 are you doing? Except by saying hey dude, they actually 0:15:26.000 --> 0:15:29.520 sent an armed group of people to stand at the 0:15:29.560 --> 0:15:33.880 border of the river and stare directly at the Nicaragua 0:15:33.920 --> 0:15:37.040 side and then the over and on the Nicaragua side. 0:15:37.040 --> 0:15:40.080 You had the government say wait, wait wait, Google Maps says, 0:15:40.160 --> 0:15:43.920 this is on our side. Uh, Whereas I think anyone 0:15:43.920 --> 0:15:49.400 would tell you that was probably a disingenuous move. Yeah, yeah, 0:15:49.520 --> 0:15:51.200 that might have been. That might have been a little 0:15:51.200 --> 0:15:55.000 bit of a passing the buck. But anyway, multimately it 0:15:55.120 --> 0:15:58.600 was it was resolved that they were in fact on 0:15:58.640 --> 0:16:02.400 the Costa Rica side, and they withdrew and uh. And 0:16:02.440 --> 0:16:07.200 then Google also amended the map. But that's not the 0:16:07.200 --> 0:16:09.200 only time it's happened. There have been other cases where 0:16:09.240 --> 0:16:14.200 the particularly around bodies of water, because it's it's hard 0:16:14.240 --> 0:16:17.080 to see the dotted line underneath because it's always underneath 0:16:17.080 --> 0:16:19.600 all that water, so it's really hard to tell where 0:16:19.640 --> 0:16:22.960 the border is. And Google sometimes will uh you know, 0:16:23.040 --> 0:16:25.400 in their maps they have it laid out one way 0:16:25.480 --> 0:16:33.000 and in quote unquote reality, which your mileage may vary. Uh, 0:16:33.200 --> 0:16:36.240 it's it's a different it's a different layout. So there 0:16:36.280 --> 0:16:38.840 have been cases like that. Yeah, right, right, But you know, 0:16:38.920 --> 0:16:40.600 just just the fact that it was big enough that 0:16:40.600 --> 0:16:43.720 that government could sit there and say, well, Google Map 0:16:43.760 --> 0:16:47.000 said things impressive to me. I you know, I'm also 0:16:47.080 --> 0:16:51.520 scary we can justify this war because Google said this, 0:16:51.760 --> 0:16:53.520 I mean, grant there was no war here. I don't 0:16:53.560 --> 0:16:57.280 want to. I'm I'm obviously exaggerating for effect. But um, 0:16:57.360 --> 0:17:01.880 but yeah, UM. Two thousand eleven, uh, Android had Indoor 0:17:01.880 --> 0:17:05.200 Maps premiere, which is the fun thing where if you 0:17:05.240 --> 0:17:07.560 get lost, for example, in a mall instead of in 0:17:07.600 --> 0:17:11.560 a neighborhood, um, you can call up a map on 0:17:11.600 --> 0:17:15.080 your Android device and have it tell you where to go. Um. 0:17:15.160 --> 0:17:17.800 And then in two thousand and twelve, which which we 0:17:17.840 --> 0:17:22.359 are just recently out of, Google Plus Local premiered um. 0:17:22.400 --> 0:17:25.679 And towards the end of the year, Apple and Google 0:17:25.720 --> 0:17:29.600 Maps had some exciting things happen in that Apple totally 0:17:29.680 --> 0:17:32.320 kicked Google Maps at the app Store for for the 0:17:32.359 --> 0:17:34.600 premiere about three months, for about three months. Yeah, it 0:17:34.640 --> 0:17:37.119 wasn't until December that it came back. So but we 0:17:37.160 --> 0:17:39.320 will also talk about that a little bit later on 0:17:39.359 --> 0:17:42.440 in the episode. Yeah. Well, and and now I think 0:17:42.440 --> 0:17:44.040 I'm going to take a little bit of time here 0:17:44.080 --> 0:17:48.560 to talk about the nuts and bolts of Google Maps. Um. 0:17:48.600 --> 0:17:51.639 This is uh, this is the technical part of our episode. 0:17:51.680 --> 0:17:54.159 And I'm not going to get too deep into this 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:56.840 because for one thing, it would be very difficult to 0:17:57.119 --> 0:17:59.680 really really dive into it in an audio format. I 0:17:59.760 --> 0:18:03.840 kind of visuals to help we can gesticulate all we want. Again, 0:18:03.880 --> 0:18:06.520 it's not really going to come from helping Lauren. But 0:18:07.800 --> 0:18:11.240 beyond that, unfortunately it's lost. But but a couple of 0:18:11.240 --> 0:18:12.720 things I wanted to talk about before I really get 0:18:12.720 --> 0:18:14.560 into the nuts and bolts. First of all, with the 0:18:14.600 --> 0:18:17.560 satellite imagery, that's kind of interesting in that there have 0:18:17.600 --> 0:18:19.879 been cases. You know, we talked about the border dispute. 0:18:19.880 --> 0:18:22.800 There have also been cases where Google has been asked 0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:27.880 by various entities to blur out some of their satellite imagery, 0:18:27.920 --> 0:18:30.760 which we should also point out Google is partnering with 0:18:30.800 --> 0:18:33.880 other companies to get the data and the images. It's 0:18:33.920 --> 0:18:38.360 not that Google has satellites encircling the Earth constantly taking photos. 0:18:38.880 --> 0:18:43.800 Uh So the satellite imageries is acquired through other other partners. 0:18:43.840 --> 0:18:46.640 But there have been times where Google has blurred stuff out. 0:18:46.680 --> 0:18:49.320 In some cases. It no longer does blur out a 0:18:49.320 --> 0:18:51.879 few of those places like the White House, that kind 0:18:51.880 --> 0:18:56.920 of thing, But it used to be governmenties. It's like yeah, 0:18:57.240 --> 0:18:59.919 like like like military basis would be a big one, right, 0:19:00.240 --> 0:19:02.560 and and so there have been times where Google has 0:19:02.600 --> 0:19:04.359 blurred that stuff out a little bit to make it 0:19:05.000 --> 0:19:08.760 less likely that someone might use Google Maps in a 0:19:08.840 --> 0:19:13.520 military strike against a target. That kind of thing. Also, uh, 0:19:13.600 --> 0:19:16.160 if you ever wanted to know what Area fifty one 0:19:16.200 --> 0:19:20.400 looks like, you can actually see that on Google Maps. Yea, 0:19:20.600 --> 0:19:22.640 you can see it's satellite you. Oh yeah, no, it's 0:19:22.720 --> 0:19:25.040 it's it's there now. Granted, you know, we should also 0:19:25.080 --> 0:19:27.000 point out the Area fifty one hasn't really been an 0:19:27.040 --> 0:19:30.760 active secret base for a while. They moved that we 0:19:30.760 --> 0:19:32.760 would have to talk to the conspiracy stuff guys. I'm 0:19:32.760 --> 0:19:35.280 pretty sure they're in Colorado now. Actually that's not a joke. 0:19:35.600 --> 0:19:38.800 I think they're really. I think the new base where 0:19:38.840 --> 0:19:42.640 a lot of the secret Air Force stuff where they're 0:19:42.680 --> 0:19:45.800 doing test flights of of secret aircraft is out of 0:19:45.840 --> 0:19:50.159 Colorado and noth Area fifty one anymore. Um, that's just 0:19:50.240 --> 0:19:51.600 off the top of my head. But anyway, it is 0:19:51.640 --> 0:19:53.239 on there if you want to take a look at it. 0:19:53.920 --> 0:19:57.400 But getting into the nuts and bolts, it all starts 0:19:57.520 --> 0:20:02.359 with a project at Google that they call round Truth. Now, 0:20:02.400 --> 0:20:05.000 if you think about all the Google Maps, you've seen 0:20:05.040 --> 0:20:07.360 in the various ways that you can customize it, where 0:20:07.400 --> 0:20:09.639 you can put push pens in, you can put different 0:20:09.720 --> 0:20:11.680 routes in, and you can view it in a million 0:20:11.680 --> 0:20:16.320 different ways. Ground truth is kind of the focal point 0:20:16.359 --> 0:20:18.720 of all that. Think of it as like the proto map. 0:20:19.200 --> 0:20:24.320 It has all this data and we're talking terabytes of 0:20:24.400 --> 0:20:27.159 data here that are going into making the maps. What 0:20:27.200 --> 0:20:29.280 they are that kind of terrifying amount of data that 0:20:29.320 --> 0:20:32.359 we can't even really deal with on a mental level 0:20:32.440 --> 0:20:36.120 because think about the stuff that's involved in a Google map. 0:20:36.160 --> 0:20:40.600 You've got the actual graphical representation of the map. So 0:20:40.640 --> 0:20:42.800 you've got you know, streets, You've got you might have 0:20:42.880 --> 0:20:46.000 you know, outlines of buildings, you have, uh, the names 0:20:46.040 --> 0:20:48.879 of landmarks, that kind of stuff. On top of that, 0:20:49.080 --> 0:20:52.919 all of those those pieces of information are linked to 0:20:53.600 --> 0:20:58.760 um coordinates, the geophysical coordinates right exactly, so latitude and longitude. 0:20:58.840 --> 0:21:02.120 You know that those are all identified, so that when 0:21:02.160 --> 0:21:04.119 you look at a map, you're looking at it the 0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:06.359 correct you know way. It's not just a bunch of 0:21:06.440 --> 0:21:09.760 random places. Hey, Mount Rushmore is right next to the 0:21:09.800 --> 0:21:12.800 Grand Canyon, which is right next to Disney World, And 0:21:13.200 --> 0:21:15.800 I mean that's not a little bit more precise than 0:21:15.840 --> 0:21:17.919 it used to be. Is all we're saying we have 0:21:18.000 --> 0:21:20.800 we have precisely to scale right. And then on top 0:21:20.800 --> 0:21:25.119 of that you have things like business names included in 0:21:25.160 --> 0:21:29.400 this information. It's it's lots of info alltogether, and it's 0:21:29.440 --> 0:21:32.240 all there because you need to be able to look 0:21:32.240 --> 0:21:34.720 at the map in one of a billion different ways. 0:21:34.880 --> 0:21:38.120 So all this data is there, and then Google's algorithms 0:21:38.119 --> 0:21:41.560 are what have to make sense of the information and 0:21:41.600 --> 0:21:45.399 display the information that's relevant to you in the context 0:21:45.440 --> 0:21:49.280 that you are using the maps in. When you when 0:21:49.280 --> 0:21:50.760 you go in and say, hey, I want traffic, hair 0:21:50.880 --> 0:21:53.600 want satellite, Hey I want to know how to get 0:21:53.640 --> 0:21:55.720 from point A to point B versus Hey, I want 0:21:55.720 --> 0:21:58.960 to know how many different pizza places are around point 0:21:58.960 --> 0:22:02.280 B verse is I want to know where the top 0:22:02.400 --> 0:22:05.600 rated restaurant in San Francisco is. I mean, these are 0:22:05.600 --> 0:22:08.239 all different contexts you can use Google Maps in, and 0:22:08.280 --> 0:22:11.439 so it has to be able to be very flexible. Now, 0:22:11.720 --> 0:22:14.960 when you're actually looking at Google Maps, what you're looking 0:22:14.960 --> 0:22:17.560 at is uh that has a top side a top 0:22:17.560 --> 0:22:20.240 bar in a sidebar, and those are just basic HTML. 0:22:21.000 --> 0:22:24.159 So it's just like which hypertext markup language. It's the 0:22:24.160 --> 0:22:27.080