<P> In Google Maps, URL parameters are sometimes data - driven in their limits and the user interface presented by the web may or may not reflect those limits . In particular, the zoom level (denoted by the z parameter) supported varies . In less populated regions, the supported zoom levels might stop at around 18 . In earlier versions of the API, specifying these higher values might result in no image being displayed . In Western cities, the supported zoom level generally stops at about 20 . In some isolated cases, the data supports up to 23 or greater, as in these elephants or this view of people at a well in Chad, Africa . Different versions of the API and web interfaces may or may not fully support these higher levels . </P> <P> As of October 2010, the Google map viewer updates its zoom bar to allow the user to zoom all the way when centered over areas that support higher zoom levels . A customized split view, with Map above and Street View below it (and its rotation) can be saved as parametrized URL link and shared by users . </P> <P> Google Maps first started as a C++ program designed by two Danish brothers, Lars and Jens Eilstrup Rasmussen, at the Sydney - based company Where 2 Technologies . It was first designed to be separately downloaded by users, but the company later pitched the idea for a purely Web - based product to Google management, changing the method of distribution . In October 2004, the company was acquired by Google Inc. where it transformed into the web application Google Maps . In the same month, Google acquired Keyhole, a geospatial data visualization company (with controversial investment from the CIA), whose marquee application suite, Earth Viewer, emerged as the highly successful Google Earth application in 2005 while other aspects of its core technology were integrated into Google Maps . In September 2004 Google acquired ZipDash, a company that provided realtime traffic analysis . </P> <P> The application was first announced on the Google Blog on February 8, 2005, and was located at Google . </P>

Where was the technology that has become google maps first developed