How Yahoo! helped create Google Maps

Stuart Corner
Thursday, 02 July 2009 09:13

Your IT - Home IT

The Rasmussens scrambled to rewrite their application from scratch using a mix of HTML and JavaScript that would later become known as AJAX. "We were frankly amazed with the result, which we had spent more than a year arguing was impossible!" Rasmussen said.

Three weeks later Google did call back, and the Rasmussens demonstrated their new version to some 25 Googlers who "were impressed with our turn-around from desktop to Web browser," Rasmussen recalled.

He notes also that, Google's view of the technology differed radically form that of other potential investors. "Of all the investors and companies we had talked to, Google was the only place seemingly disinterested in how to make money from our maps. At the time it cared solely about making users happy, and argued that business models were much better determined after a product had become successful with users."

Despite being pre-occupied with what turned out to be a spectacular IPO Google did find the time to do a deal with Where 2 Technologies, acquiring the company and setting up its team in Sydney to develop Google Maps, which was launched in February 2005 (Google Maps Australia went live in February 2006).
 
Rasmussen and a greatly expanded team have gone on to develop Google Wave previewed at a Google Developers conference in June and according to Rasmussen the prototype of which is almost ready to launch.