[Reading level: C1 – Advanced]
After 20 years, from a small project in Australia, Google Maps has nearly made paper maps disappear and completely transformed the way people explore the world.
In 2005, when people wanted to learn about a place they rarely visited, they needed a pocket atlas, paper maps, a compass, restaurant guides, bus schedules, and more. Four individuals—Stephen Ma, Noel Gordon, and brothers Lars and Jens Rasmussen—came up with the idea of creating a digital map.
Even after 20 years of building Google Maps into a platform with two billion users, these four individuals remain little known. “I tend to be a private person,” said Stephen Ma, a 54-year-old software engineer in Australia, in a rare interview with The Guardian. “I feel uncomfortable with the attention people give me.”
The story begins in the town of Cooma, New South Wales, where Ma’s family ran a Chinese restaurant called Dragon’s Gate, specializing in Cantonese-Australian dishes like chicken chow mein and sweet and sour pork.
Besides attending school, Ma helped his family at the restaurant. However, most of his time was spent in front of a computer screen. “I did a lot of things that tech enthusiasts usually do, like playing games and learning to program on an Apple II computer,” he recalled.
In 1998, as the dot-com boom was nearing its peak, Ma graduated from university and took a job in Sydney before moving to Silicon Valley to try his luck. However, by the early 2000s, engineers like Ma felt disillusioned as the dot-com bubble burst.
Returning to Sydney, he was contacted by his former colleague Noel Gordon. The two, along with Danish brothers Jens and Lars Rasmussen, founded a startup with the goal of creating a new mapping platform.
At the time, there were already some online mapping services, such as MapQuest, which AOL had acquired for a record $1.1 billion. However, MapQuest was considered cumbersome and still “stuck between the digital and physical worlds,” as users had to enter directions on a computer and then print them out for real-world use.
The group, calling themselves Where 2 Technologies, worked out of a bedroom in Gordon’s apartment in the Sydney suburb of Hunters Hill. They built a Windows application called Expedition, which featured an address bar at the top and a central map display showing routes with two markers for start and destination points. “It looked a lot like Google Maps does now,” Ma said.
The team presented their demo to Sequoia Capital, the legendary venture capital firm in Silicon Valley. Where 2 Technologies hoped to secure funding to ease their financial burden, as their project was running on personal savings, which were quickly running out.
In March 2004, Yahoo Maps launched SmartView, a feature allowing users to search for restaurants and entertainment spots—an innovation for mapping applications at the time.
Yahoo’s product led Sequoia Capital to withdraw its investment interest. However, as a “consolation”, the firm introduced the team to Google, one of its biggest clients. The Where 2 team then pitched their idea to Google co-founder Larry Page.
Page wasn’t interested in a desktop application like Expedition but was impressed with their browser-based mapping features. The team modified their web version using Ajax, a relatively new technology at the time, which allowed the map to load data dynamically without needing to refresh the entire page. Instead of reloading a massive map image, the website loaded smaller map tiles as needed. This provided a seamless user experience, unlike traditional mapping tools that required frequent page refreshes.
The demo was a success. Google hired the team and acquired the intellectual property for an undisclosed amount. However, in Google’s 2004 annual report, the company stated it had spent $66 million in cash, performance bonuses, stock, and options for acquisitions, including Where 2 Technologies.
“Google was very good at acquiring talented teams at a low price because they had no competition in acquisitions at the time,” Ma said.
In June 2004, the Where 2 team officially joined Google as employees. In February 2005, Google Maps was launched.
Google Maps immediately attracted global attention. The “drag-and-drop” feature on the browser and the ability to zoom in and out with smooth interaction received widespread praise for their convenience. Instead of waiting for pages to reload or static maps to refresh, users could simply click and hold the mouse to drag to the desired area or scroll to zoom in on the location they wanted to explore in more detail.
The rise of smartphones took Google Maps to new heights. When the iPhone was introduced in 2007, followed by Android devices in 2008, Google quickly saw an opportunity. The mobile version of Google Maps was rapidly developed and continuously updated, introducing features like location search, navigation, route planning, real-time location sharing, and even traffic congestion updates. With a smartphone running Google Maps, traveling to an unfamiliar city became effortless. Paper maps and traditional navigation tools gradually disappeared from travelers’ luggage.
In 2007, Google also introduced Street View, which provided 360-degree images of specific locations. The company used 360-degree cameras mounted on vehicles to capture images in hundreds of countries, recording millions of locations. This allowed users to “travel virtually” or preview destinations in detail.
Besides, opening the application programming interface (API) to third parties has also helped Google’s map ecosystem explode, deeply integrating into everyday life. Now, millions of products such as mobile applications, websites, and transportation businesses all have the Google Maps API. The Google My Business feature also allows users to review businesses or provide information such as contact numbers and opening hours.
With satellite integration, Google Maps has played a crucial role in disaster relief, environmental monitoring, and urban planning. According to Android Police, after 20 years, Google Maps has evolved beyond a location lookup and navigation service into a platform where people search, interact, build communities, and drive economic growth.
“Twenty years ago, Google Maps changed how we see and navigate the world. Today, it’s an essential tool for over two billion users each month, shaping how people navigate and explore—whether they are traveling to a new place or rediscovering their hometown,” Miriam Daniel, Vice President and Head of Google Maps, wrote on the company’s blog.
Professor Scott McQuire, a media expert at the University of Melbourne, told The Guardian that while Google Maps is an incredible product, “it operates based on data extraction, collecting location information, which is highly valuable to those wanting to gather data about you.”
Stephen Ma acknowledged that commercializing and utilizing user data wasn’t part of the original plan when he helped create the mapping platform, but it became an issue after he moved on to other projects in 2006. He also admitted concerns about privacy.
“Keeping companies honest and transparent is partly the responsibility of users and partly that of governments,” he said. “The biggest challenge is that technology changes so fast that regulatory mechanisms struggle to keep up.”
Source: https://vnexpress.net/google-maps-cuoc-cach-mang-ban-do-so-tu-du-an-trong-phong-ngu-4854260.html
WORD BANK:
compass /ˈkʌm.pəs/ (n) [B2]: la bàn
come up with an idea /kʌm ʌp wɪð ən aɪˈdɪə/ (v) [B2]: nảy ra một ý tưởng
specialize in sth /ˈspeʃ.ə.laɪz ɪn/ (v) [B2]: chuyên làm gì
chow mein /ˌtʃaʊ ˈmeɪn/ (n): mỳ xào (kiểu Trung Quốc)
tech enthusiast /tek ɪnˈθuː.zi.æst/ (n): người đam mê công nghệ
the dot-com boom /ðə dɑːt.kɑːm buːm/ (n): cơn sốt dotcom (cuối những năm 1990)
peak /piːk/ (n) [B2]: đỉnh điểm
try one’s luck /traɪ wʌnz lʌk/ (v): thử vận may
former /ˈfɔːr.mɚ/ (adj) [B2]: cũ, cựu, nguyên, cố
colleague /ˈkɑː.liːɡ/ (n) [B1]: đồng nghiệp
acquire /əˈkwaɪɚ/ (v) [B2]: mua lại, thâu tóm
cumbersome /ˈkʌm.bɚ.səm/ (adj) [C1]: cồng kềnh
feature sth /ˈfiː.tʃɚ/ (v) [B2]: có cái gì như một đặc thù
demo /ˈde.m.oʊ/ (n) [C1]: bản thử nghiệm, bản demo
legendary /ˈledʒ.en.der.i/ (adj) [C1]: huyền thoại
venture capital firm /ˈven.tʃɚ ˈkæp.ɪ.t̬əl fɝːm/ (n): công ty đầu tư mạo hiểm
secure sth /sɪˈkjʊr/ (v) [C1]: nhận được, có được cái gì
run out /rʌn aʊt/ (v) [B2]: cạn kiệt
launch sth /lɔːntʃ/ (v) [B2]: cho ra mắt cái gì đó
withdraw sth /wɪðˈdrɑː/ (v) [B2]: rút lại cái gì
consolation /ˌkɑːn.səˈleɪ.ʃən/ (n) [C2]: sự an ủi
client /ˈklaɪ.ənt/ (n) [B2]: khách hàng
pitch an idea /pɪtʃ ən aɪˈdɪə/ (v): trình bày một ý tưởng
browser-based /ˈbraʊ.zɚ beɪst/ (adj): trên trình duyệt
modify sth /ˈmɑː.də.faɪ/ (v) [B2]: chỉnh sửa, sửa đổi
dynamically /daɪˈnæm.ɪ.kli/ (adv) [C1]: chủ động, năng động
intellectual property /ˌɪn.t̬əlˈek.tʃu.əl ˈprɑː.pɚ.t̬i/ (n) [C1]: quyền sở hữu trí tuệ
undisclosed /ˌʌn.dɪsˈkloʊzd/ (adj) [C1]: không được tiết lộ
performance bonus /pɚˈfɔːr.məns ˈboʊ.nəs/ (n): thưởng hiệu suất
option /ˈɑːp.ʃən/ (n) [B2]: quyền chọn
acquisition /ˌæk.wəˈzɪʃ.ən/ (n) [C1]: mua lại
drag-and-drop /dræɡ ənd drɑːp/ (n): kéo thả
zoom in/out /zuːm ɪn/aʊt/ (v): phóng to, thu nhỏ
scroll /skroʊl/ (v) [B2]: lăn chuột, cuộn
navigation /ˌnæv.ɪˈɡeɪ.ʃən/ (n) [B2]: dẫn đường
effortless /ˈef.ɚt.ləs/ (adj) [C1]: dễ dàng
luggage /ˈlʌɡ.ɪdʒ/ (n) [B1]: hành lý
mount sth on sth /maʊnt/ (v): gắn cái gì lên trên cái gì
virtually /ˈvɝː.tʃu.ə.li/ (adv) [B2]: ảo, hầu như
application programming interface (API) /ˌæp.lɪˈkeɪ.ʃən ˈproʊ.ɡræm.ɪŋ ˈɪn.t̬ɚ.feɪs/ (n): giao diện lập trình ứng dụng
integrate into sth /ˈɪn.t̬ə.ɡreɪt/ (v) [C1]: tích hợp vào cái gì
disaster relief /dɪˈzæs.tɚ rɪˈliːf/ (n): cứu trợ thiên tai
evolve /ɪˈvɑːlv/ (v) [B2]: tiến hóa, phát triển
admit /ədˈmɪt/ (v) [B1]: thừa nhận
regulatory /ˈreɡ.jə.lə.tɔːr.i/ (adj) [C1]: mang tính quản lý
mechanism /ˈmek.ə.nɪ.zəm/ (n) [C1]: cơ chế
keep up /kiːp ʌp/ (v) [B2]: theo kịp
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