Brian McClendon: The Story of Google Maps, Pokemon Go & Keyhole - MBM#59
Description
Brian McClendon was one of the earliest investors & later VP of Engineering at Keyhole, which got acquired by Google in 2004. Brian become VP of Engineering and led Google Geo, overlooking the development of Google Earth & Google Maps. He also worked at Uber & is now at Niantic, which you might know for thri most popular app: Pokemon Go
Sponsor: OpenCage
Use OpenCage for your geocoding needs with their API
Geomob
About Brian
Shownotes
- Never Lost Again by Bill Kilday (Affiliate Link)
- Brian’s University of Kansas course: “Startups Rasing Money”
- @Home Network (Wikipedia Page)
- Keyhole Inc (History of Google Earth Wikipedia)
- Google Earth
- I think you can find a link to Google Maps on your own :)
- Nicaragua border story
- Books & Podcast
- 3 Body Problem by Cixin Liu (Affiliate Link)
- Marketplace podcast
Timestamps
(00:00 ) - Introduction
(01:16 ) - Sponsor: OpenCage
(02:42 ) - Brian describes himself
(03:33 ) - Getting into computer graphics
(05:15 ) - From engineer to building companies
(08:06 ) - The Beginnings of Keyhole
(12:42 ) - EarthViewer demo
(14:33 ) - Going through rough times
(21:00 ) - What made Keyhole so unique
(25:56 ) - How much of Keyhole's work is still in Google Earth?
(32:08 ) - Borders are hard
(37:20 ) - Changing borders
(43:15 ) - Google's rationale for spending so much on mapping
(45:37 ) - Use for Google Maps vs Earth
(47:22 ) - Google Earth Engine
(51:16 ) - Earliest Google Earth Image
(52:20 ) - Working at Uber
(57:03 ) - Self-driving
(58:30 ) - Project Ground Truth
(01:04:01 ) - Where is self-driving today?
(01:10:29 ) - Trains vs Cars
(01:14:15 ) - Niantic
(01:17:07 ) - Future predictions
(01:19:28 ) - Glasses over phones
(01:21:05 ) - The next iPhone moment
(01:23:33 ) - Using Tech to get people outside
(01:25:57 ) - Teaching
(01:28:11 ) - The need for tech companies outside the Bay Area
(01:30:21 ) - Remote work
(01:34:59 ) - Recommendations to students
(01:36:10 ) - Book/Podcast Recommendations
United States
