Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Google Acquires Keyhole Corp.

Posted by timothy on from the combine-with-maps-service-please dept.

telstar writes "As part of their ever-expanding online presence, Google has acquired online map provider Keyhole Corp.. Keyhole's technology allows users to perform virtual flyovers of satellite imagery of the earth's surface. The immediate impact of this acquisition is a price drop in Keyhole's service charge. Beyond that, Google does 'not have any announced plans regarding how this technology will integrate with our current products and services.'"

9 of 245 comments (clear)

  1. Bad planning? by kalpol · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So if they don't yet know how they're going to use it, why did they buy it? I hope Google isn't falling into the trap of buying up companies with cool ideas because they have lots of money burning holes in their pockets. That will lead to overexpansion, and with MS breathing down their necks, they can ill afford missteps in their corporate strategy.

    --
    12:50 - press return.
    1. Re:Bad planning? by B'Trey · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Since when does "no announced plans" mean "... they don't know how they're going to use it...?"

      If MS IS breathing down their neck, do you think the wisest move would be to announce to the world exactly what their plans are?

      --

      "The legitimate powers of government extend only to such acts as are injurious to others." Thomas Jefferson.

  2. Neato by Jonny_eh · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It'd be neat if they integrated this technology with the google local search. Imagine searching for a local business then getting to see it on a satellite map, cool.

  3. Google Maps? by CtrlPhreak · · Score: 3, Insightful

    With its neverending quest to be able to search everything and anything, perhaphs you'll be able to search the surface of the earth for things in the future through google. Like mapquest but without needing an address, just a starting location then a google search for something as the destination. Come to think of it, that could be pretty cool. What else could they use this for? It can't just be another revenue stream for google can it?

    --
    WikiAfterDark.com It's a sex wiki, go now!
  4. Re:Googleing for people! by elFarto+the+2nd · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is of course..... not true.

    ...yet

    Regards
    elFarto
  5. Re:Google needs real competition by Jeff+DeMaagd · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Yahoo alread does a large part of what Google is doing. Google is hardly the only source of any particular service that I am aware of, and it isn't like an operating system lock-in that I can't switch and the others don't have 100% of the software I need, I can pick and choose where to go for every particular service Google offers.

  6. Re:Google needs real competition by drakaan · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And here's why that won't wash.

    They have no competition at their current price point. Once you charge for a service, all of us non-subscribing, cheap-ass, "I'll just do it myself...better"-type geeks will do an end-run around you and give a better offering away for free.

    Linux was first (and pretty much ignored for 10 years), then Microsoft said "hey, if we give away a browser for free, we can kick Netscape's ass!", then Netscape went and open-sourced and gave us Mozilla, which we can run on Linux...etc, etc, etc. Free (as in beer) usually wins. Free (as in freedom) is a no-brainer.

    Google's rise to it's current status has a lot to do with the geeks that work at Google, and the geeks that are in charge of Google, so the odds of nefarious plot hatching there are (IMHO) somewhat lower than at MS. They built their business on advertising revenue, rather than liscensing madness, so aside from doing a good job and getting people to look at their ads, they don't have much to push...certainly not in the form of subscriptions (well, maybe a charge for ad-free searching).

    Right now, the good thing is that Google is scaring the crap out of Microsoft, and may (eventually) force a change in their revenue model. Short term: Google is still good. Long term: Even if Google forgets how to be good, they won't get away with it...geeks are fickle.

    --
    "Murphy was an optimist" - O'Toole's commentary on Murphy's Law
  7. I saw this coming by lou2ser · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Some people have been playing around with Google's SMS Service http://www.google.com/sms/ and have found if you SMS "Directions" to 46645 you get a reply back "Looking for driving directions? Unfortunately this feature is not yet supported."

    Another undocumented feature is for flight times. Try SMSing flight WN 764 and you get the same reply.

    This post was inspired by http://www.engadget.com/entry/8423209320818510/

  8. Re:Google needs real competition by stratjakt · · Score: 5, Insightful

    To make personal computing available and affordable to the masses? That was basically their original "mission statement", and was noble enough at a time when computing was basically the domain of the rich.

    Would I have ever owned a C64 for under $1000 bucks (at launch) if not in part for it's built-in BASIC interpreter by Micro Soft of Palo Alto?

    --
    I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!