Never Lost Again: The Google Mapping Revolution That Sparked New Industries and Augmented Our Reality – The Essential Application's Creation Story from Keyhole

I flew through this book on the history of Google Maps, told from the perspective of a product marketing manager who was there from the beginning. It is easy to forget how much this incredible service developed right before our eyes. Interesting tidbits along the way include: * How the company that became Google Maps started as Keyhole, a technology start-up that figured out a practical way to fluidly zoom in and out of high resolution satellite imagery without causing major lag. * How Google acquired Keyhole. * How Keyhole technology became the basis for Google Earth and Google Maps satellite view. * How there was a long-standing battle at Google with Marissa Mayer over whether Google Maps should be branded as Google Local, to emphasize how it could be used to find local restaurants, shops, and services. (Marissa wanted the latter. The author and his boss wanted the former.) * How the Google Maps and it’s API made it possible for all of these incredible companies to build location-based services such as Zillow, Yelp and Uber. * How Google Maps, by allowing users to pinpoint a location based on latitude and longitude, accelerated search and rescue in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. This is because the Coast Guard has no capability to look up addresses but they could look up the lat, longs that 911 operators provided. * How GPS technology and iPhones made it possible for Google Maps to not just provide directions one could print out, but real time navigation. * How Google was legally barred from creating voiceover navigation services for a while. The technology was very possible but the two companies that owned the street-level data refused to permit Google to create such services so as not to undercut their business with navigation systems such as Garmin, Magellan and TomTom. * How Google eventually got out from under the thumb of the data providers by creating their own gargantuan data set using Google StreetView images and deep learning to map those images to data they could use for real-time navigation. * How the founder of Keyhole went on to found PokemonGo and other augmented reality games originally designed to get people off the couch and interacting with the world. This book is also remarkably well written (flows easily, stays on topic, always interesting) for a book authored by a non-professional writer. Highly recommended!

Buy and read this book! Author Kilday was present from the beginning of a small entrepreneurial company called Keyhole. The firm scrounged maps from anywhere they might be found and turned them into images that you could pull up on a computer screen. You could view, seemingly from space, your home, city streets, villages, and geographic landmark like the Grand Canyon. The company was acquired by Google and turned into Google Maps. Later, the company spun off from Google and moved into gaming. It created Pokémon Go and other electronic games that changed gaming forever. How all of this happened, play-by-play, is this book’s tale. What makes the book so fascinating isn’t only the history of a technology. It’s a fun and easy read. The writing is punchy and engaging. The cast of characters is wonderful. So many names you have heard of from the leadership of Google. A wonderful collection of small and often quirky investors and computer nerds. There are so many fascinating stories in this book. It’s a start-up story: As you read the book you’ll wonder whether this plucky little start-up will make it (it barely survived). It’s history: You’ll remember the amazing map images we watched as the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003. (Oddly enough, the war probably saved the firm. And Maps saved lives during the war.) It’s corporate politics: You’ll experience political in-fighting at Google. People fight for control, subvert other’s initiatives. (And you’ll learn so many factoids—e.g., who knew that one of the first fifty Google employees was a professional chef brought in to prepare meals for the staff). It’s about creativity—connecting ideas that lead to new ideas: You’ll discover why and how Pokémon Go was created (partly because the CEO wanted his kid to play outside rather than sitting on a couch hooked to electronic games). I read a bevy of non-fiction books each year and this is one of the best I‘ve read in a long while. You’ll not be disappointed. But beware: The book can ruin a good night’s sleep. Reading the book is like bingeing on Netflix. As each chapter ends you’ll feel the need to read just one more. I stayed up almost all night reading the book. It was that good. [Full disclosure: I know the author who is based in Austin]

I remember the moment when my roommate showed me Keyhole's EarthViewer for the first time on a computer in a dingy condo in Mountain View. The magical product had that much of a profound impact on me. It was exhilarating to read this book by an insider who saw that technology go from a struggling startup ("But what do you do with it?") to being the foundation of one of the most transformational technology products in history (Google Maps and Google Earth). Not only did Kilday have a ringside view of this journey, he was in the ring for much of that time. As an entrepreneur betting several years of my life on location technologies involving the "blue dot" showing up on a map on a smartphone, this has been a fantastic read. Must read for anyone in the mapping and location industry.

Full of memories for those whose driving experience predates Google Maps; startup rags-to-riches drama for would-be entrepreneurs; and a history of what is arguably Google's most successful product line for everyone who uses it, Kilday's book proves to be an enjoyable read. Some of the names are familiar, but many will be new to the reader in this insider account of what it was like to be a startup, purchased by Google, on the ground floor of what was cutting edge technology that became so completely ubiquitous that it arguably changed the world.

Author takes you on the complete journey - from small unfocused start-up to the technology that changed the world. If you have ever worked at a startup, hope too, or even just fantasized about it this is a story you can appreciate. Nothing is easy and nothing can be taken for granted. Whether you are technical in nature or just occasionally use google maps or applications such as Uber or DoorDash - Never Lost Again is highly recommended.

The books traces the story of Google maps right from when it was an independent start-up till it became an integral Google offering. Written by a marketer (a very early employee) who had close access to the founder, it gives a adequately non-technical and detailed account of the entire journey. Ola, Swiggy, Airbnb would not have a business model but for Google maps. Here you get to read the challenges it went thru to succeed.

Loved the book. Was a great history of How Google Maps became what it is today. Recommend it for anyone interested in Google, Maps or startups.

Bill has told a story which sounds too good to be true, until you have seen it unfold. Google maps, arguably a technology which changed the world forever- what went behind its making, from a lot of stakeholders. A book which does not shy away from bringing out real challenges and people issues. And at the same time, a book which talks about 10X thinking at google and how it led to Keyhole becoming massive. Loved Bill’s style of narration.

Bill Kilday's Never lost again is a beautifully described journey of how Google Maps and Earth came to exist as we know the products today. Written in a autobiographical style, Bill worked with the leader of the Google Geo team, John Hanke, right from their college to the start-up days at Keyhole, before being acquired by Google. Bill describes in great detail and with a sense of unbeatable humor, the chaotic days of operating with the Keyhole team to a more structured role within Google as a Product marketing manager for Google Maps & Earth Replete with both life lessons and a lot of humor, Bill has attempted, successfully, to bring out the struggles, challenges, and opportunities that he faced as part of the Keyhole/Google Geo teams. Though retold in a light-hearted storytelling style, it is indeed, one of the most amazing journeys for a product that is currently available in the hands of every single smart phone owner on the planet Overall, this is a story of good times triumphing bad times - a story of positivity and grit set against the cruel world of start-up success to reach an unbelievable pinnacle of glory through the innovation/product itself. The next time I use Google Maps, I am sure I'll remember John Hanke, Bill Kilday, Mark Aubin, or Chikai Ohazama, and thank Larry Page & Sergey Brin for their's/ Google's culture!

Brilliant book.. Read if you're a fan of the technology that changed the way we look at the world - this book describes the journey of Google maps from scratch to the desktop to the smartphone era.