> It’s hard to remember what digital maps were like before Google Maps went live in 2005

Everybody used MapQuest. What's so hard to remember about that??

> and the huge technological breakthroughs that transformed clicking on arrows and waiting, to simply dragging a map with a mouse and watching it render smoothly and quickly.

I mean, it was nice, but was this really a "huge technological breakthrough"? It's not like Google Maps invented AJAX. It was a fairly straightforward improvement.

Sorry, but this author exaggerates a wee bit much.