Jan 19: Google Earth

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For many, using Google Earth or Google Maps is a quotidian act: to find where we are, to navigate to another place, to find a business, or the venue for a vaccination etc.

I heard earlier in the week about the passing of Michael T Jones via Ed Parson's Twitter feed.

He was one of the people behind the development of Keyhole, which later became Google Earth.

For over 15 years, this tool has helped to revolutionise our geography teaching and also the way we, and students conceptualise the earth, and helped millions of people explore the planet in ways which would have been impossible to consider when I started teaching.

"We are going to make discovering the Earth a joy - like you're dating a planet and you want to know it, to hear all about its past and hopes. That's what we did: we made something immersive and engaging and personal. You can fly to your home--fly to your parents' home - and remember the time you snuck out in the backyard and did something you shouldn't do, or the place where you had a first kiss, or the place you got married."

This article from 2013 outlines some of his thinking, as downloads passed one billion.

Worth also mentioning that Google itself is one of the sites which many billions of people use each day. They may use the built in options on their smartphone rather than visiting the actual website and see the now familiar logo.




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