Google Maps is the largest mapping project in human history.

In just two decades, Google has driven more than 10 million miles across 100 countries, collecting hundreds of billions of images.

The result is a map where you can drop a little yellow pegman almost anywhere on Earth and see exactly what it looks like.

Except one city: North Oaks, Minnesota

A quiet suburb just north of St. Paul.

There’s 5,272 people that live there and it’s the highest median household in Minnesota. And there’s a reason for that which we will get to.

But the strangest part about the city is that it’s the only municipality in America that is not on Google Maps Streetview. It’s that blank spot on the map.

I live 14 minutes away, I’m a pesky filmmaker, and I have a 360° camera, so - in an attempt to complete Google’s map of America - I mapped the city of North Oaks in a way Google wouldn’t: with a drone.

North Oaks is not your typical suburb.

It was founded in the 1950s by developer Louis W. Hill Jr., the grandson of railroad tycoon James J. Hill, basically the Elon Musk of his time, one of the richest people in the world at the time… responsible for connecting the country’s railways.

His idea was to build a community that feels like a nature preserve.

And to protect that vision, the town was structured in a very unusual way.

Most properties, mine included, have an easement that allows the public to access the roadways and sidewalks.

In North Oaks, however, property lines extend to the middle of the road, where the opposing home extends to on the other side, leaving behind no public access.

That means the pavement itself is technically private property.

And that’s where Google got in trouble in 2007.

When Google launched Street View in 2007, their camera cars drove through thousands of cities. Including North Oaks.

Technically speaking, the Google car wasn’t just mapping North Oaks… It was trespassing.

So the mayor of North Oaks at the time, Thomas Watson, sent Google a formal cease-and-desist letter.

The message was simple: Remove the images… or we’ll sue.

Google removed everything.

And just like that, North Oaks became the only municipality in America without Street View.

The map has stayed blank ever since.

Until now.

Google wasn’t banned from mapping North Oaks. They were banned from driving on private roads.

And that got me thinking. Property lines stop at the ground…. Airspace works differently.

According to FAA rules, the airspace above North Oaks is unrestricted.

So technically… If you launch a drone from outside the city… You can fly over it.

But, to do that, I needed to become a certified drone pilot.

So I spent an afternoon studying (the truth is I had been studying for about a year on and off, this was the motivation I needed to cram) …and passed the FAA Part 107 exam the next day.

Once I had the license, I mounted a 360 camera to a drone and launched drone flights from public roads around the edge of North Oaks.

Yes, I had another friend of mine film the drone that I myself was flying... with a drone.

From there, I flew over the city and captured hundreds of aerial photospheres.

Then I uploaded them to Google Maps.

Piece by piece. Street by street. Until, a few days later, the images appeared on the map… North Oaks had finally been mapped.

I posted this as a short to Youtube and tiktok. I’ve been making videos for about 15 years now. And in all that time, I’ve never made something that’s gone as viral as this. As of today, that video has over 30 million views.

Then, about a month after publishing the video, I received a two-page letter from a law firm representing the North Oaks Homeowners Association, which manages the city of Norht Oaks.

The letter essentially said: Stop entering North Oaks… And confirm in writing within 10 days that you’ll comply.

Which felt a little intense considering the whole project started as a geography experiment.

So I did what any responsible adult would do. I sought out a lawyer.

But not your typical lawyer. I wanted one with knowledge of the city. So I contacted “North Oaks Law,” a firm that - I can only assume - was created for this very case.

They quoted $10,000 as a retainer and $600 per hour.

I don’t know how to tell you this but I don’t have anywhere near that much money to spend on this. So I went with a cheaper option. A family friend. His advice was to respond just to satisfy their demand for a response. So we kept it simple.

“Sounds good.”

So that’s what I sent back. Letter pictured here.

And that’s not necessarily the end of the story. One of those 30 million viewers introduced me to a weird concept. The city of North Oaks has installed these surveillance devices called Flock Cameras.

This sent me down a rabbit hole where I realized that - with these cameras - they were invading their own privacy the entire time.

So I got started on that video… stay tuned.

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