Since the Google Maps API became available for developers with a cartographical itch, digital cartographers have been putting their imaginations to impressive use with the designs they’ve come up with. One of the most prominent themes during the Google I/O conference last week was the sheer girth of new tools and features that were announced across the many, many Google products. Several of those features pertained to Google Maps and Google Earth, mostly on the design front.

The Who’s Who of Google Maps API got together during Google I/O for a fireside with some of the digital map developers that attended the conference to answer some questions about Google Maps API, Google Earth, and KML. On hand to take questions from attendees were Thor Mitchell, Susannah Raub, James McGill, Sean Askay, Andrew Foster, David Wang, and Peter Birch.

Topics discussed ranged from how to use Google Earth’s 3D images when developing mobile apps, how V2 ads perform against V3 ads when using Google Ads Manager, and how businesses can get photos of their interiors included in Google Business Photos (although this question seemed to befuddle some of the Googlers on stage). It’s kind of fun to watch how quickly the Googlers will pass off the microphone as quickly as possible as soon as it becomes apparent who should be answering the question. At the end of the talk, the gang then plays an impromptu version of Nickelodeon’s 1980’s classic You Can’t Do That on Television that resulted in Peter Birch receiving a torrent of green slime for being the first person to say “I don’t know.” Incidentally, he wasn’t even saying it as an answer but, hey, dems the breaks, Google Mappers.*

*They didn’t actually do the You Can’t Do That on Television thing. Sorry.