TECH - If You Invested $1000 In Google When Maps Was Launched 18 Years Ago Here's How Much You'd Have | Benzinga
Alphabet Inc.'s (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google Maps is amongst the most-used navigation apps in the world, allowing users to do everything from simply navigating to their destinations to discovering speed traps and reporting incidents. However, the journey was not always this smooth when it launched 18 years ago.
Launched in February 2005, a few months after Google launched its IPO, Google Maps is amongst the most downloaded apps globally, with billions of users and downloads. The app's impact on navigation has been massive – in 2020, Google revealed that over 621 million miles were driven every day 2020.
From Nowhere To Everywhere
Google Maps is currently available in more than 250 countries worldwide – while there are 195 UN-recognized countries, others are "dependencies."
Besides satellite data, Google also uses a dedicated fleet to obtain high-resolution street-level data and imagery. This allows users to use Street View in Google Maps to explore a street on the other side of the planet from within the comfort of their room in the U.S.
Here's an interesting ...