It was 20 years ago when we were introduced to Google Maps. But what most people don’t know is that it actually has Australian roots and was developed in Sydney.
Two Danish born brothers – Lars and Jens Rasmussen – were running their Where 2 Technologies start up from their apartment in Hunter’s Hill when they came up with new mapping technology.
They pitched the idea to investors – one which happened to be Google who bought the company in 2004 before Google Maps was born in 2005.
Today it’s used by more than two billion users per month to navigate to their destination and explore their surroundings.
Users have asked for more than a trillion kilometres of directions – that’s 1000 times the distance between Earth and the Sun.
There are now more than 250 million businesses and places on Google Maps. If you were to visit every one of those places every hour it would take more than 28,000 years to complete the list.
More than 500 million users have contributed reviews, photos, ratings and driving distractions.
And there are some new Google Maps features and some hidden gems.
One new feature is being able to customise the navigation icon with new car types and colours instead of the plain blue arrow.
You can also time travel in Street View and check out your childhood home or a favourite spot and see how it has changed over the years.
Simply search for the address in Street View and then tap “See More Dates” so you can scroll through the images like looking through the pages of a history book.
Users can also make restaurant reservations from Google Maps.
Instead of calling you can book a table at your favourite restaurant – if it is registered with a booking partner – by tapping on Reserve to complete your booking.
If you drive an EV, Google Maps can also settle your range anxiety.
If you add your EV’s make and model into Maps it will display compatible charging stations on your route.
