Google Maps where would we be without them

Developed by Google, Google Maps will give you directions while in a car, on a bicycle, or even on foot. Furthermore, in recent years, new technology has also allowed Google to offer real-time traffic conditions, live weather, and virtual satellite imagery unparalleled anywhere else on the planet. It will also, when prompted, even show you where that specialized shop you can’t find while out walking through the city.

Google Maps started off as a general-purpose programming language tool, basically a desktop tool,  back in 2004. Bjarne Stroustrup developed it, a Danish computer scientist working for “Where 2 Technologies,” a company that google would snap up in 2005.

After purchase, Google wasted no time in expanding the program into a web application by adding a geospatial data visualization and realtime traffic analyzer thus turning the platform into what we know today as “Google Maps”. They launched the program to the public in February of 2005, from then on, the planet we live on would never be the same again.

Yes, indeed it is now hard to envision a time when we did not have “Google Maps,” . No longer was it just the military who could, with the aid of orbiting satellites, zoom into any part of the world and visit a country, we the general public could without even leaving the comfort of our armchairs go anywhere we wanted. On reflection, it is both fantastic and frightening, especially when you add in the newly developed “Google Earth,”.  With this added feature you can literally visit any neighborhood anywhere on the planet. Yes, it is hard to imagine a world without “Google Maps,” even though it has been only a short time since Google unleashed it onto an unsuspecting world.

So, let’s not rush, let us dally for a while, and think back to a time before “Google Maps.”

Me, well I get lost trying to get from my back garden back into the house. How I survived my military service only God knows, and it does not help to be male, as we all know a male does not read directions or ask for advice, we would rather drive around in circles until the car dies of exhaustion, brought on by the sheer lack of gas. (petrol for our European friends)

Sticking with Europe, if like I, you were brought up in the United Kingdom during the 1950s, then you will remember those knights of the road, the “Automobile Association Patrolmen.” Yes, they were indeed knights of the road, all patrolling the streets on their little yellow motorbikes, all equipped with a sidecar which carried everything from warm tea, maps, and tools all packed to keep the average British motorists both safe and comfortable, no matter where he or she were traveling at any given time.

It was an age of calm and gentle-essence. In this age, we all drove our cars only if we were sure that it was displaying our gleaming AA motoring badge, affixed to the front of the vehicle so that any patrolman, when he passed on his rounds, would salute and bid you on your way. (if he did not compliment you, then this was a secret signal that there was a police speed trap up-ahead)

Yes, it was a time when roads, to put it mildly, were not very wide, and they tended to meander around the many hills and rivers, making even a short 50-mile trip an epic journey of colossal proportions. These trips had to be planned well ahead and always with the help of the British Automobile Association. You would write to them making sure to give your exact itinerary, then, precisely one week before your planned trip was to start, you would receive in the mail, not on the internet (we had none) but by the village postman, a little book explaining your precise route, places of interest on the way, and of course a handwritten map.

Yes, they were the days before “Google Maps,” were the better days? Well, that is up for debate, what is for sure, though, is that “Google maps” has undoubtedly made it easier to get around this place we call our world, I mean, where else would you find directions to get to Tipperary and we all know that it is a long way to Tipperary.

You have to hand it to Google. They have done a fantastic job in creating Google maps. So much so that today, along with YouTube, Chrome, Gmail, Search, and Google Play, Google Maps has now over one billion users and at the last count over 7,000 employees, all tasked with just one thing, keeping Google Maps up to date, and busy they have been as can be seen from the development of Google Maps for Android and iOS devices, released by Google in 2008. The app is a GPS configuration with featured turn-by-turn navigation and assisted parking. It has proved so popular that in August of 2013, it was voted the world’s most popular GPS app, with over 50% of all smartphone users saying that they have used the app at least once.

Still not satisfied, Google then added the Google Map satellite view, a “top-down” or “birds-eye” view; most of the high-resolution imagery of cities within this view continued to be gleaned from aerial photography taken from aircraft flying at 800 to 1,500 feet (240 to 460 m), but also includes other imagery taken from orbiting satellites, a significant improvement as most of the satellite imagery is no more than three years old and is updated regularly by Google.

In ending, I would like to leave you with this thought; Now that online shopping has become so popular imagine the world without “Google Maps.” What would the big online shopping malls like Amazon, BargainBrute, and Shopify do without “Google Maps? All rely on fast delivery, and some, especially BargainBrute.Com, always attempt to ship their orders out most times the same day of order, so they require proper GPS tracking for all shipments. With over 70 warehouses spread throughout the United States, Google mapping is just the thing they need. Without this, their delivery drivers would be going around in circles trying to find you. A problem that would affect all other delivery systems no matter what company were delivering their products.

Well, my friends, I have come to the end of another short narrative and I thank you all for reading, it is most appreciated. I would also like to thank BargainBrute.Com for giving me the platform to write on, go over and give them a visit and find out for yourselves why this American family-run business has been voted the best place to shop online in 2019. They are the place to go to for all your top online internet deals, all at the best prices and of the highest quality, so take advantage of their prompt, in most cases, next-day delivery service.

Thanks for reading, don’t get lost while out on the road, and drive safe.

Kind Regards and see you on the inside at BargainBrute.Com