20 years of Google Maps: much more than just a digital map
Google Maps saw the light of day 20 years ago. Now, it offers much more than just a digital map, and Switzerland has also played a part in this.
Google Maps made its first appearance in 2005, and 14 months later Europe had access to the digital maps too. The app followed a year later, and since 2008 the navigation service has guided people to their chosen destination. What started out as an online street map has now become an all-in-one solution.
From digital street map to all-rounder
Up to 2005, Falk maps were the gold standard of navigation. If you wanted to find your way around a foreign city, you didn’t need to look further than their city maps with the special fold. Nowadays, I only come across the name in travel guides. One reason for this came along on 8 February 2005: Google Maps.
Source: Google
The maps from Google Maps weren’t just the digital version of printed city maps and street maps. They were free of charge and covered huge areas. But I had to wait until 26 April 2006 to see Germany on the browser map. Back then, it was still common to print out sections from Google Maps because it was force of habit and there were a lack of suitable mobile devices.
This didn’t change until the end of 2007 when the mobile version of Google Maps appeared. It was initially developed for Blackberry and Palm devices. The android app followed in September 2008. It was probably around this time that manufacturers of classic navigation devices went weak in the knees. Why? Because, shortly before this, the company at Mountain View had introduced Google Maps Directions – a navigation function for its map service.
Source: Google
Over the years, Google has continued to expand its Maps service. The navigation system received real-time data and suggested better routes. In 2014, information on restaurants, hotels, shops and sights was added – including contact details, opening times and information on expected occupancy. This kind of data provided the perfect opportunity to make money in advertising, and as a user I’m happy about the many simplifications.
Not forgetting Street View. There have been so many times I’ve looked at unknown streets to at least get an impression of the parking options. This worked well, although Street View in Germany took a long break shortly after its launch in 2010. Only the large cities had been photographed up to that point. It wasn’t until 2023 that Google updated its image gallery of roads and extended it to cover the whole of Germany. Over the decade, people were concerned about the photos of their houses being used in Street View.
Source: Google
The Swiss touch
Google Maps is worked on worldwide, so it’s no surprise that two functions were primarily developed in Switzerland. One function that was mainly developed in Zürich was Google Transit. Google Maps was already displaying SBB’s public transport data in 2007, and now the function is an integral part of the map service worldwide. Incidentally, in keeping with the cliché, Deutsche Bahn data followed 5 years later.
Source: Google
Nevertheless, Germany didn’t need as long to catch up with the second function primarily developed in Switzerland – bicycle navigation. This was launched as a pilot project in 2012 and was also available in Germany the following year.
Supreme map service in a tough territory
Now, by its 20th birthday, Google Maps has charted 250 countries and regions. Over two billion people worldwide use the service and over 500 million have contributed photos, reviews and more.
According to Google, Maps users have navigated a distance of more than one trillion kilometres by 2024. To put this into perspective, Neptune is 4.5 billion kilometres away from Earth and a trillion goes beyond our solar system.
Source: Google
As a map service, Google Maps operates on highly political terrain. Some names or boundaries are controversial. This became clear recently when Donald Trump had the Gulf of Mexico renamed the Gulf of America. However, this name change is only visible in the USA.
It’ll be much more difficult to label a sea when Google Maps is drawing boundaries that aren’t mutually recognised. Which country has Crimea belonged to since 2014? Does a border run through Formosa Street? Google’s solution to this is complying with local laws and, when in doubt, shows each country what it wants to see.
Hardly any path escapes Google Maps
Away from global political issues, Google Maps has developed into a service that’s an integral part of many people’s everyday lives. Other providers have tried to set up their own map services, but neither Apple Maps nor Bing Maps or Huawei’s Petal Maps come anywhere close to the popular birthday kid.
If you need directions, want to take a look at a museum, look for the telephone number of a doctor’s surgery, reserve a table in a restaurant or simply want to stroll through the area – you can do it all in Google Maps. Even if the functions are available to you in other apps, you don’t need to bother using them.
Source: Google
The size of Google Maps has recently become clear from the Digital Markets Act. The DMA is intended to prevent the formation of monopolies, which is why Google had to separate the direct connection between Google Maps and its search results.
Header image: Google
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As a primary school pupil, I used to sit in a friend's living room with many of my classmates to play the Super NES. Now I get my hands on the latest technology and test it for you. In recent years at Curved, Computer Bild and Netzwelt, now at Digitec and Galaxus.
