But Google got it. When an independent developer named Paul Rademacher deciphered the Google Maps data format, he realized that he could build new custom maps by combining data from multiple sources. He built a site called housingmaps.com that showed apartment listings from Craigslist on a Google map—and Google saw the opportunity. Instead of shutting down Paul’s hack, they celebrated it. They hired him, and opened up an API to make mashups easier. This was a transformative breakthrough that led to Google’s dominance in online mapping. As more and more developers built applications for Google
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