Why aerial photography in Google Maps is called "Satellite"
Yesterday, Google Maps co-founder and current Salesforce president Brett Taylor told on Twitter a very interesting story that happened in 2005, shortly after the launch of the map service.
Everyone saw in Google Maps mode "Satellite". It turns out that 15 years ago, serious disputes flared up around this word. First, the photos for the service were provided by the company Keyhole, which made aerial photographs of the area.
Therefore, many developers advocated for the honest name of the function “Aerial Photography” (Aerial Photography). But this word did not fit the button. There was another proposal: "Satellite". Let it be a lie from a technical point of view, but successfully fit into the design, says Taylor.
Engineers could not come to a consensus. For such cases, at that time Google had a special dispute resolution procedure (the founders of the company periodically conducted such experiments). According to the rules, the disputants gathered in the room and tried to convince each other. Before them was a counter with a countdown of time, approximately like on a basketball court, which counts the number of seconds remaining on the attack. And which sentence will sound the last before the sound of the timer - such a proposal is accepted. They say that this system was introduced by Sergey Brin.
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So, when supporters of the honest “Aerial Photography” argued with supporters of the beautiful in terms of the “Sputnik” design, right before the sound of the timer Sergey Brin suggested the Bird Mode option (“Bird Mode”). Technically, according to the official rules, developers were required to use this name.
Fortunately, Taylor took the risk of disobeying the boss, because Sergei’s proposal seemed completely awkward. On his initiative, the aerial photography regime was still called “Sputnik”.
“As it turns out, the real power is from the person who actually writes the code,” Taylor jokes. According to him, no one from the management noticed the violation and did not make any claims against them: “And since then we have been deceiving users by passing aerial photography as satellite,” admits Bret Taylor.
Everyone saw in Google Maps mode "Satellite". It turns out that 15 years ago, serious disputes flared up around this word. First, the photos for the service were provided by the company Keyhole, which made aerial photographs of the area.
Therefore, many developers advocated for the honest name of the function “Aerial Photography” (Aerial Photography). But this word did not fit the button. There was another proposal: "Satellite". Let it be a lie from a technical point of view, but successfully fit into the design, says Taylor.
Engineers could not come to a consensus. For such cases, at that time Google had a special dispute resolution procedure (the founders of the company periodically conducted such experiments). According to the rules, the disputants gathered in the room and tried to convince each other. Before them was a counter with a countdown of time, approximately like on a basketball court, which counts the number of seconds remaining on the attack. And which sentence will sound the last before the sound of the timer - such a proposal is accepted. They say that this system was introduced by Sergey Brin.
')
So, when supporters of the honest “Aerial Photography” argued with supporters of the beautiful in terms of the “Sputnik” design, right before the sound of the timer Sergey Brin suggested the Bird Mode option (“Bird Mode”). Technically, according to the official rules, developers were required to use this name.
Fortunately, Taylor took the risk of disobeying the boss, because Sergei’s proposal seemed completely awkward. On his initiative, the aerial photography regime was still called “Sputnik”.
“As it turns out, the real power is from the person who actually writes the code,” Taylor jokes. According to him, no one from the management noticed the violation and did not make any claims against them: “And since then we have been deceiving users by passing aerial photography as satellite,” admits Bret Taylor.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/441504/
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