[Lee Jong-gil's Autumn Return] What Made Pokemon 'GO' Possible Was Google Maps

Bill Kilday's 'Google Map Revolution'

The era of relying on compasses and maps is over. Now, navigation and map service devices are the guides. They are used in various modes of transportation such as ships, aircraft, and cars. When walking, a smartphone is the guide. It tells you which way to go even in unfamiliar areas. It also provides detailed information about which nearby restaurants are famous and how much their food costs.

At the center of this change is Google, the world's largest internet search service company. In 2004, Google acquired two map service companies. One was a company where four people worked in an apartment in Sydney, Australia, without even establishing a business entity, and the other was Keyhole, headquartered in California, USA, with twenty-nine employees.

Google provided unlimited resources to these companies and shared one weakness: 25% of the search terms entered into the Google search bar were related to maps. At that time, Google did not have a map service.

Google combined the software developed by the Sydney-based company with Keyhole's Earth Viewer solution. This is how Google Maps was born. The system that guides users along the shortest route to their destination caused a great sensation. Even now, it is used by one billion people monthly worldwide. Hundreds of services with growth potential have emerged. Representative examples include Zillow, an online real estate site in the US; Priceline, an online travel product sales site; and Uber, a smartphone app service connecting passengers and drivers.

'The Google Maps Revolution' is a book that introduces the development process of Google Maps as well as Google Earth and Pok?mon Go. Google Earth is a map program that allows you to view landscapes of places you have never been to from your living room, and Pok?mon Go is an augmented reality (AR) mobile game that blurs the boundary between reality and virtuality. These could be developed thanks to revolutionary advancements in map technology. The author, who worked as a marketing manager at Keyhole and Google Geo, dedicates almost every page to recording the chronological evolution of map technology and explaining Google's unique service strategy.

Pok?mon GO / Photo by Niantic

The endless challenge continued at Niantic, which spun off independently from Google. Niantic achieved great success with Ingress, the first location-based AR game. Ingress features two factions: the Enlightened and the Resistance. The game progresses by going out into the real world to engage in territorial battles. After the war, users return to the city, meet people, and form communities with gamers who have become friends outside the digital world. Niantic even turned the process of creating a database of interesting locations into a game. The approximately 12 million points gathered by users later became Pok?Stops in Pok?mon Go.

Pok?mon Go, created based on Ingress's machine learning, data, and technology, was released in 2016. It broke all previous records in downloads and revenue and grew rapidly. Before the game's release, there were no proven cases of AR utilization. Now, it has become a popular technology trend. Many companies not only in Silicon Valley but also elsewhere include one or two slides related to Pok?mon Go in their investment pitch decks. It is frequently cited as a successful example of effectively combining good maps with technology that geographically locates everything around us. The author considers this success a new starting point. His vision for the future of AR is as follows.

"Imagine standing at the intersection of West 24th Street and Whitis Avenue on the University of Texas campus in Austin, Texas. Holding up your smartphone and pointing it at that statue. Based on Google Street View data and computer vision-based maps, the smartphone recognizes it as the statue of Congresswoman Barbara Jordan. Immediately, a faint-colored information balloon appears above the statue's head, showing the congresswoman's name, birthdate, and major legislative activities. The statue is outlined in blue and moves as if alive. Then, Congresswoman Barbara Jordan begins to speak the key points of her keynote speech at the 1976 Democratic National Convention held at Madison Square Garden."

Movie 'Minority Report' still cut

It sounds like a scene from science fiction movies like 'Minority Report' (2002) or 'Her' (2013). But a world where this becomes reality is approaching quickly. The world is already wirelessly connected. Searching is possible even when away from the monitor on your desk. Games that used to be played while sitting fixed in a chair can now be enjoyed outside the home. Digital is continuously coming out into the outside world.

In the evolving world ahead, will people be unable to take their eyes off their smartphones? Or will they lift their heads and perceive the surrounding world with new perspectives, gaining a deeper understanding of the history, architecture, and cultural significance of specific places? Whether they become more present through rich knowledge or more distracted is hard to tell right now. But it is clear who will win: those who have the best maps that accurately identify locations anywhere on Earth and provide systematic indexing.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.