Map of big Silicon Valley companies?

August 27, 2011 2:21 AM

How can I find a map of large high-tech Silicon Valley companies?

I'm looking for a map of large or important high-tech Silicon Valley companies: Apple, Google, Yahoo!, Facebook, Twitter, Tesla Motors, AMD, Intel, HP, 23andme etc.

There's a poster like that here, but its very old (no Facebook on it).

I figure some Google use must've created a "My Map" of these companies, but I'll be damned if I can figure out how to search public Google My Maps (as a test, here's a public My Map of mine with apartment complex in the SF Bay Area; try searching for it).

Other ideas? I'd be happy mashing up some sort of KML with Google Maps, if it comes to that.

posted by harwons to technology (6 answers total)

posted by BadgerDoctor at 4:41 AM on August 27, 2011

sorry-hit "post answer" before I had written anything!

click on the map at this URL

http://www.siliconvalleymap.com/classic.htm
posted by BadgerDoctor at 4:45 AM on August 27, 2011

Thanks BadgerDoctor for the updated link to that classic pinup map. Sad though that its purpose seems to be advertising Central Computers, rather than representing a good cross-section of innovative Silicon Valley companies, or at least placing them somewhat accurately on the map (last I checked, Yahoo!'s HQ wasn't north of NASA AMES).
posted by harwons at 7:35 AM on August 27, 2011

Sad though that its purpose seems to be advertising Central Computers, rather than representing a good cross-section of innovative Silicon Valley companies

Heh, I worked a few freelance jobs for that map co when they first started which was well before Google so back then the map was handdrawn and the logos pasted down on top. Most of the time, I had to cut up company letterhead to obtain the logos. The only reason companies appear on the map is if they paid SVM to have their logo included, which is why retailers and companies you've never heard of are over-represented or if the artist assembling the map had an affinity for particular companies and would sneak them in, which is why Apple always appeared on the maps I drew. Logos were placed with a combination of very rough approximation of address divided by where the logo would fit. This later requirement was complicated because space on the map was sold in tiers: logo only, logo + building and back in the pre-www days, logo + building + phone number. I'd love to find a nicer poster too but this business is a little like the Yellow Pages: costs to create the map are covered by advertisers and advertisers will only pay to be on the more well-circulated map.
posted by jamaro at 9:46 AM on August 27, 2011 [1 favorite]

Yahoo HQ is at 1 Sunnyvale Lane, about 1/4 mile east of Moffett Field, home of NASA AMES.

the map includes all of the retail locations of Central Computers, that's why the one name appears so frequently.

Other than that, the map identifies by name and in the correct geographical location:

Intel, Cisco, Texas Instruments, Oracle, Facebook, Analog Devices, Ericsson, Network Appliances,
Xilinx, Adobe, Twitter, Yahoo

Yeah--no innovators among that group
posted by BadgerDoctor at 10:25 AM on August 27, 2011 [1 favorite]

Here's a link to Map of innovative Silicon Valley companies and educational or research institutions
posted by harwons at 10:04 PM on November 13, 2011