Friday, June 27. 2008

How Did Gates Do on Predicting Mapping Tech Back in 1995?

Today is Bill Gates' last day in his current role. He'll move on to a new chapter working with his foundation. To honor that last day, CTV looks at the predictions made in his 1995 book, The Road Ahead. He has this to say about mapping:

"You'll be able to jump into a map so you can navigate down a street or through the rooms of a building."

We are certainly part way there and with the likes of EveryScape and new motion sensing technologies, we are getting closer all the time.

BTW, Hiawatha Bray covered EveryScape in the Boston Globe this week. The opening sentence mentioned Google Maps, so when my Dad pointed it out he said, "there's another article about Google mapping in the paper." I wonder if it's possible to write about new mapping technologies without mentioning the G company?

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These days, not to mention the G company in mapping discussions is like not mentioning the M company in PC discussions of the 90s. That is the democratizing power of technology delivered with a user-friendly pricing model.

I wish the current GIS powers and leaders (the IBMs and Apples of the 80s) take notice, and stop protecting their arcane pricing and licensing models.

#1 Sanjeev on 2008-07-01 10:43 (Reply)

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