![]() The Keyhole company, created by John Hanke to develop his crazy idea of a digital facsimile of the Earth, struggled against all odds for several years to keep going while it developed its Earth Viewer. In his new book, Never Lost Again: The Google Mapping Revolution That Sparked New Industries and Augmented Our Reality, Bill has documented everything from that initial meeting through to how, what became Google Earth, was developed and how the technology behind it has impacted on our lives and spawned massive new business opportunities. That kid was John Hanke, and that shared meal led to an enduring friendship that ended up playing a crucial part in how modern-day mapping has developed. One quiet Sunday when no one else was around, out of desperation for some company, he asked the quiet geeky kid down the hall to join him to eat. The reason we have all that power freely accessible to us is down to the vision of one man - John Hanke, Google Earth’s inventor.īill Kilday was at university in Austin, Texas. How times have changed! We can now fly over any point on the planet, view it in 3D, take a look at street level and measure areas - all from the comfort of our own desks. Pricing up new work was a risky and inefficient process. ![]() Back then we had to take a wild guess at what was on a site and how long it would take to survey – either that or we'd spend more time looking at potential projects rather than carrying out surveys. It’s hard to imagine that just a few years ago that incredible app didn’t even exist. ![]() When a client asks us to quote for a new project the most invaluable tool I now have at my disposal is, without a doubt, Google Earth. ![]() Being a little bit obsessed with business books and, as a surveyor, far too keen for my own good about maps, I was recently excited to come across a new book that combined both those subjects. One of the plus sides of often being on the road visiting sites or meeting up with clients is that I can use that time to soak up lots of audiobooks and podcasts. Google Earth - its development & how it's changed our world
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