[pflanze]

From all I can tell, Google Maps was not started from within Google, but started in early 2003 as Where 2 Technologies [1] and was purchased by Google in October 2004 [2].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lars_Rasmussen_(software_devel..., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jens_Eilstrup_Rasmussen [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_maps#History