Professional Bio
Product Manager at GooglePhoto Sphere, Street View, & Panoramio
Mountain View, CA
We live in a beautiful world with places that inspire us, from the wonders of national parks to the depths of the oceans to the dynamics of our biggest cities. Imagine a map with incredible photographs in all these places. Everywhere you ever dream of going, you can virtually explore before you go. You can take this map anywhere, and discover new places through photos shared by fellow travelers and residents.
Of course, I'm describing Google Maps, and you can do this all today. As a Product Manager on Google Maps, I help lead a number of efforts to create the most inspiring collection of geolocated photos possible to help people explore the world.
I currently work on:
- Street View, which has published over 5 million miles in over 50 countries
- Photo Sphere, which enables Android users to add their panoramas to Maps (and G+)
- Panoramio, a large, active photo community of very talented geo photographers
- Oceans, to acquire beautiful imagery underwater (70% of our planet!)
Before Joining Google
Before starting at Google in August 2011, I worked at a small high tech company in Honolulu, Hawaii. I was fortunate to have worked on a wide range of very interesting products, addressing challenges such as:
- Can an artist who became fully paralyzed and unable to speak from ALS, finally paint again through computer... one controlled using only her brain?
- How can we use satellite-tracked ocean drifter buoys to help K-12 students understand the connection between their local actions and the accumulation of marine debris in the northern Pacific Ocean (often called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch)? Can we teach them all the science topics they need to learn while helping them become good stewards of the environment in the process?
- Is it possible for adventurers, whether they're rowing across the Pacific Ocean, climbing Mount Everest, or running across the Sahara Desert, to engage their thousands of fans every day using social media and interactive maps?
- Can we build hardware and software that detects, in real-time, the relative level of mental effort a person is using so that we can improve their ability to multitask on a computer?
- Is our perception of objects in the world always the same, or does it change based on how our ability to interact with them (such as if we are tired)?
Prior to starting at Google, I also was a freelance website designer, working with dozens of clients, including small businesses, non-profit organizations, authors, artists, musicians, and more.
Personal Bio
My wife, Alanna, and I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, where we moved in 2011 from Kailua, Hawaii. I moved to Hawaii in May 2003 from Charlottesville, Virginia where I went to school at the University of Virginia. I'm originally from Suffern, New York.
One of my favorite hobbies is outdoor photography (check out my photography website), which I really enjoy as an opportunity to take a different angle at even the most familiar subjects.
My other interests include hiking, reading, standup paddling, skiing, and snowboarding.
Alanna and me in Lahaina, Maui.