Google Maps: a decade of transforming the mapping landscape | Technology | The Guardian
▻http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/feb/08/google-maps-10-anniversary-iphone-android-street-view
Ten years ago, a weekend journey to a friend’s wedding was likely to involve typing a postcode into Multimap, printing out step-by-step instructions and then enduring amateur navigation from your partner in the passenger seat.
A decade on, digital maps and the inexorable rise of the smartphone have radically changed how we locate, navigate and plan our journeys. Mobiles, satnavs and computers act as our guides for everything from driving holidays to nipping to the shops.
Apps such as Google Maps have become the de facto interface between the the physical and the digital world, meaning people need never be lost again - even if they don’t have a sense of direction.
While Sir Tim Berners-Lee’s nascent world wide web supported the first online maps in 1993, it wasn’t until the launch of Google Maps ten years ago today that digital maps began to enter the mainstream.