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The invention of Google Maps
How the revolutionary online mapping service was created in 2005.
In 2005, a revolutionary online mapping service called Google Maps went live for the first time. It introduced searchable, scrollable, interactive maps to a wider public, but required so much computing power that Google's servers nearly collapsed under the strain. Lars Rasmussen, one of the inventors of Google Maps, talks to Ashley Byrne. The programme is a Made-in-Manchester Production.
PHOTO: Google Maps being used on a mobile phone (Getty Images)
Last on
Wed 9 Feb 202203:50GMT
BBC World Service
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