This post is a bit off-topic from the rest of the blog but I pitched an idea to Google that I thought would be an interesting project. I’m not certain that something like this doesn’t already exist or that maybe the idea had already been thought of but pushed aside for one reason or another but my idea goes a little something like this…

Google Maps provides a vast amount of information regarding the current state of the world. For instance, I can browse to my hometown of Milwaukee and find the names of roads, freeways, places of interest, lakes, rivers, harbors, parks, national forests, neighborhoods, universities, public and federal buildings, and so much more. I haven’t even bothered with the fact that I can include options such as photos, videos, web cams, traffic, Wikipedia links, and others.

Imagine if you will, a Google Maps-like service that allows you to travel back in time, to say, the early stages of Colonial America. What would Google Maps and more importantly, what would America look like in say, the year 1775? I proposed that Google create a service like this that allows a user to select a date in history and go back to what America looked like then. Can you imagine what the United States would look like on the date April 29, 1803 as compared to May 1, 1803 a day after America signed the treaty to purchase the Louisiana territory from France? Imagine being able to browse through the decades and watch the Westward Expansion envisioned by all believers of Manifest Destiny or how the city limits of Chicago spread from it’s founding in 1833 to it’s present day metropolis.

I proposed that Google add additional items that a user would find useful such as photos, videos, audio files, etc. from history for specific locations or events. For example, suppose you wanted to take a look at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania during 1863 on the dates July 1st to July 3rd. You’d be able to find a treasure trove of information about the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War right in front of you. I also thought it would be a great idea to include bits of historical fact at these specific locations via a collection of sources (Wikipedia, archives, etc.).

The project seems large and probably quite time consuming but given Google’s ability to index information accurately and quickly and the fact that the underlying platform for the service (Google Maps) already exist I thought it would be worth undertaking. I explained that they might consult city, state, and federal documents and archives in order to pull appropriate dates and times for events/milestones. The project doesn’t have to be limited to the United States either but my world history aside from the major facts is a bit rusty so I used America as my example.

If this project ever did eventually make its way to the public there’s no reason the idea couldn’t be expanded to do something similar for other areas of interest. Picture being able to browse through the history of computers or baseball. In a way it could be a new approach to the way people learn information about topics that interest them.

Let’s see what Google says, if they say anything at all.