James and Alex are brothers and the authors of Googlesightseeing.com. They are both professional web developers by day and planetary explorers by night. Although often assumed to be American, they actually come from the beautiful city of Edinburgh, Scotland. Alex has a degree in Graphic Design (his talents have previously won him a trip to New York), and is currently a digital media developer. James has a degree in Computer Science and is employed as a senior web developer. James' talents have won him awards for web development and innovation at the BBC Radio 1 National Student Radio Awards.

When Google launched their revolutionary online map service, Google Maps in April 2005, they immediately began excitedly scanning the photos for recognizable landmarks. The site featured stunning photos of large parts of the Americas taken using a combination of satellite and aerial photography. After spending an evening tracking down more sights and sharing them with their friends, the brothers decided that they would share their discoveries with wider audience and so the Google Sightseeing blog was born.

In 2006 they released a photo book based on the website which was published as "Not In the Guide Book" in Europe and "Off the Map" in the United States. Each image was accompanied with a humorous and insightful description of the, often very bizarre, sight to be seen. Reviews of the book were extremely positive and a second volume is under consideration.