How one founder’s bet on ‘the old school web’ is paying off
Craig Campbell built Past Maps as a niche website, not an AI startup, and it is growing through Google Search. He also uses AI to cut customer support time to minutes a day.
Intelligence analysis by GPT-5.4 Mini
Past Maps shows that a focused, useful website can still grow in the age of AI and search anxiety. Its founder built a niche mapping tool, monetized it with subscriptions, and now uses AI behind the scenes to handle support more efficiently.
A person made a website that helps people look at old maps and compare them with new ones. It started as a tool for a hobby, but other people found it useful too.
The website grew because people could find it on Google, like finding a small shop on a busy street. It is a reminder that not every successful idea has to be a giant app.
The maker also uses AI like a helper behind the counter. The AI sorts mail and drafts answers, so the person can spend less time on busywork and more time on the website itself.
Analysis
A niche site that found an audience
Craig Campbell turned a hobby tool for metal detecting into Past Maps, a website that overlays historical maps on modern ones. The article frames it as an unusual bet: instead of starting an AI company in 2022, Campbell built a site around publicly available map data and tools he developed himself.
Why the business works
The site appears to benefit from classic web mechanics. Campbell says Google Search has been its biggest traffic source, and that tagging pages in ways Google understands helped the project surface for people looking for location history, genealogy clues, or old sites such as abandoned mines. The Verge describes this as a version of the "old school web" still surviving in small niches.
How AI fits in
Even though the business is rooted in the open web, Campbell still uses AI internally. The article says a local agent model on his desktop checks email, filters spam and marketing, identifies messages that need attention, and drafts replies. That has reduced his customer service workload from roughly one or two hours a day to about 10 minutes.
Revenue and scale
Past Maps is not ad-supported in the old way. Free access exists, but deeper use requires a weekly or annual subscription. Campbell says traffic has risen from about 20,000 active users a month to more than 300,000 in year three, enough to support him and his wife. The piece uses that growth to show that a small, specialized website can still work when it solves a real problem and is easy for search engines to find.
Key points
- Craig Campbell chose to build a niche website instead of starting an AI company.
- Past Maps overlays historical maps on modern maps and attracts users for research and curiosity.
- Google Search is the site's biggest traffic source, which the article presents as a sign the old web still works in niches.
- The business uses subscriptions rather than relying mainly on display ads.
- Campbell uses a local AI agent to triage email and draft support replies, cutting daily support time sharply.
