MapBlast

MapBlast was a web mapping service launched in the mid 1990s by Vicinity Corporation. It allowed website owners to incorporate maps in their own web pages.

Vicinity Corporation was founded in August 1995 with headquarters on 599 North Mathilda Avenue, Sunnyvale, California. (37°23′30″N 122°01′50″W) Rama Aysola, Eddie Babcock, Timothy Bacci, Jim DiSanto were mentioned as co-founders. Harold J. Logan joined as CEO in 1996 and the company moved to 1135A San Antonio Road, Palo Alto (37°25′55″N 122°06′03″W), later with offices also in Berlin and Rome. By 1999 it had received funding from CMG@Ventures, Oak Investment Partners, 21st Century Internet and the Encompass Group. CEO and president at that time was Emerick Woods. The company was acquired by Microsoft in 2002 and the MapBlast service was closed down in August that year. The technologies have later been incorporated into services such as MSN Maps & Directions, Microsoft MapPoint and Live Search Maps.