Every place has a story to tell.

A drive from the Pacific-coast town of Monterey, California to the San Jose airport after a weekend with friends. About an hour along Route 1, through seaside towns, artichoke fields, and the quiet green of the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Somewhere between Marina and Los Gatos, we started wondering: What are we passing right now? Who built these towns? What stories hide behind these hills, in these forests? This may be the only time we ever see this. Let's soak up as much knowledge and meaning as possible, while we're here to appreciate it.

That hour could have been spent listening to music or a random podcast, but we wanted to learn. We wanted to understand the places we were driving through, not just pass them by.

Web searches, Wikipedia, and Google Maps can help, but the answers were scattered. While waiting for the flight, we discovered what we had missed:

• F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote nearby in Monterey.
• The Salinas Valley is known as the "Salad Bowl of the World," filled with artichoke and lettuce farms.
• That stretch of highway passes through early California film sites and historic engineering landmarks.

That drive along the California coast, through redwood forests, sparked an idea. What if every road, neighborhood, and city could tell its story automatically, right as you explore it?

That question became our mission. Whether you are traveling across the country or rediscovering your hometown, we want to help you experience the world in a better way.