Brian McClendon - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Brian McClendon
Personal details
Born1964 (age 59–60)
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse(s)Beth Ellyn McClendon
EducationUniversity of Kansas, Lawrence[1] (BS)

Brian McClendon (born 1964) is an American software designer, developer, and engineer. He was a co-founder and angel investor in Keyhole, Inc.. Keyhole is a geospatial data visualization company that was purchased by Google in 2004.[2][3] Google bought it so they could create Google Earth. He was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering in 2015.

Early life

[change | change source]

McClendon grew up in Lawrence, Kansas. His childhood home, Meadowbrook Apartments in Lawrence, is the default center point of Google Earth.[1] He graduated from Lawrence High School in 1982. He graduated from the University of Kansas in 1986 with a degree in electrical engineering.

Technology

[change | change source]

McClendon became a vice president at Google in 2004. This was when Google purchased Keyhole. Keyhole's main application suite, Earth Viewer, formed the basis of Google Earth.

He left Google to join Uber in June 2015. He did this to work on mapping.[4]

In March 2017, he quit Uber (though was still an adviser) to return to his hometown. He said he was interested in Kansas politics.[5]

Politics

[change | change source]

In January 2018, he said he would run for Kansas Secretary of State as a Democrat.[6] He had no opponent in the primary election. He was selected as the Democratic candidate.[7] He was defeated in the general election by the Republican candidate Scott Schwab.[8]

References

[change | change source]
  1. 1.0 1.1 "Lawrence pinpointed as center of Google Earth". Lawrence Journal World. December 21, 2005.
  2. "Google Acquires Keyhole Corp" (Press release). Mountain View, California. October 27, 2004. Retrieved November 7, 2018.
  3. "Google Buys Digital Mapping Company". PC World. October 27, 2004. Archived from the original on August 4, 2012. Retrieved September 17, 2019.
  4. "Uber Hires Google’s Former Head of Maps to Oversee Location Technology, Pittsburgh Center" re code, June 16, 2015 Archived August 16, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  5. "Uber's head of mapping leaves, wants to go home". USA Today. March 20, 2017.
  6. "Former tech exec, Lawrence native Brian McClendon announces run for Kansas secretary of state". Lawrence Journal. January 22, 2018.
  7. "2018 Primary Election Official Vote Totals" (PDF). August 31, 2018.
  8. "Kansas Republicans win races for secretary of state, insurance commissioner, attorney general, treasurer; Estes and Marshall keep congressional seats".

Other websites

[change | change source]