The story behind Google Maps’ feature almost being named ‘Bird Mode’

When it comes to starting a new business, you have to be very careful with how you name your brand, as it will set the tone for all your future initiatives. For instance, if the Google Maps team hadn’t ignored their boss’s suggestion for what we know now as the “Satellite View”, then we would have been calling it “Bird Mode” for the rest of our lives. 

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Last Saturday, co-creator of Google Maps and current Salesforce President Bret Taylor shared a “silly Google Maps origin story” on Twitter.

Okay, story time.

Out of boredom, Taylor went into detail about the crazy back story of how Google Map’s satellite view was almost called “Bird Mode.”

Back in 2005, Google’s executive team would always have a weekly product review. After they had successfully launched Google Maps in February, they now had to add satellite imagery to the web’s mapping service. Taylor recalled that in one of these “meaningful” meetings, the team also had to decide on what to call this feature.

Of course, they wanted it to be as straightforward as “Satellite View”, but the images—when switched between maps and imagery —  were actually taken through aerial photography.

Since the Google Maps team couldn’t come up with an official name, they had no choice but to face Google’s big bosses with an unnamed feature. Because of that, the meeting that was supposed to be about running all sorts of crazy experiments turned into a name-that-feature session.

Apparently, these ‘executive reviews’ were Larry Page and Sergey Brin’s favorite place. And according to Taylor, the bosses would always decide on things using a huge countdown clock.

The rule was very easy: when the clock ticked zero, the buzzer would ring and the meeting was over and the decisions were final.

From “Airplane View,” and “Superman” to “I Feel Picture-y”,  everyone was just throwing out names while the clock was ticking down. Just when Brin proposed “Bird Mode,” the buzzer buzzed—and that was it. Whether they agreed with it or not, the feature had officially been named.

Clearly, the meeting was over and no more questions asked.

However, Taylor and his team thought that the name was either silly or horrible. Instead of being a yes man, Taylor ignored his bosses’ strange ideas and just named it “Satellite” instead­—hoping that they wouldn’t even notice what he did.

Sometimes, not following your boss’s terrible ideas can save you from a lot of troubles.

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