Editing Microsoft Research Maps (section)

== History ==
Though it was online as early as December 1997, the site was formally unveiled June 24, 1998, as part of an 18-month agreement between [[Microsoft]], [[Compaq]], and [[Aerial Images]] of [[Raleigh, North Carolina]].  It was created as a demonstration system to advertise the scalability of Microsoft's [[Windows NT]] Server and [[Microsoft SQL Server|SQL Server]], and used images from the [[United States Geological Survey]] (USGS) and [[Sovinformsputnik]] (the [[Russian Federal Space Agency]]).

TerraServer was the brainchild of the Turing Award-winning researcher on database systems, [[Jim Gray (computer scientist)|Jim Gray]].  Before his death, Gray continued this work, developing [[Microsoft Virtual Earth]] and began a similar project that would become the [[Worldwide Telescope]].

In January 2000, Microsoft and Aerial Images, now TerraServer.com, Inc., split their operations, creating two parallel TerraServer websites.  The dualism caused confusion among web surfers until the Microsoft name change in 2010.  TerraServer.com, Inc., which owns the trademark<ref name="trademark">{{Cite web |url=http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&entry=76534179 |title=USPTO Trademark Status |access-date=2010-03-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608081834/http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&entry=76534179 |archive-date=2011-06-08 |url-status=live }}</ref> TERRASERVER, filed a lawsuit<ref name="lawsuit">"[https://www.pcworld.com/article/145613/microsoft_satellite_map_project_sued_over_name.html Microsoft Satellite Map Project Sued Over Name] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181027074009/https://www.pcworld.com/article/145613/article.html |date=2018-10-27 }}". ''PC World''. May 7, 2008.</ref> in 2008 in North Carolina federal court, seeking monetary damages and asking that Microsoft be stopped from using the TerraServer trademark.

The TerraServer name was a play on words, with ''Terra'' referring to the 'earth' or 'land' and also to the [[Terabyte|terabytes]] of images stored on the site.