History of Yandex

The first software development office to open outside of Moscow opened in St Petersburg. Development offices would later appear in other cities to accommodate talented local teams.

Yandex.Maps began showing traffic jams. The “Traffic on the Map of Moscow” project showed the situation on the roads of the capital and the surrounding region. Red lines meant traffic jams, yellow conveyed congestion and green signified a clear ride. Yandex received data from the Smilink agency, which went on to become a part of the company. Later traffic maps were released for all cities in Russia and Ukraine, as well as Minsk and Istanbul.

Yandex’s services are a constant source of data about the internet and its users. This year Yandex released its first public research — The Blogosphere of the Russian Internet, based on data from the Blog Search service. Over time, Yandex began to regularly release research into the most diverse topics — from users’ search interests to traffic jams.

A program to promote broadband internet was launched under the name Yandex.Tarif. Yandex created a site that informed users about providers offering affordable prices for broadband internet. It worked: in just a few months, more than 100 providers, many of which reviewed their rates and lowered their fees, joined the program.