Internet Changes Everything

Google buys Internet map provider

TheStar.com - Google buys Internet map provider

NEW YORK—Web search leader Google Inc. said yesterday it has acquired Keyhole Corp., a supplier of online satellite maps that allow users to zoom down to street level to specific locations.

Terms were not disclosed. Both Google and Keyhole are based in Mountain View, Calif., in the heart of Silicon Valley.

Keyhole's system is built on a database with trillions of bits of mapping data collected from satellites and airplanes.

"With Keyhole, you can fly like a superhero from your computer at home to a street corner somewhere else in the world — or find a local hospital, map a road trip or measure the distance between two points," Jonathan Rosenberg, Google's vice-president of product management, said in a statement.

Google said it cut the price of Keyhole's mapping service to $29.95 (U.S.) a year from $69.95, effective immediately.

Google is flush with cash from its $1.67 billion initial public offering in mid-August. Since then, its shares have more than doubled from their $85 debut price on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

With an Internet connection, a user can enter an address or other location information and Keyhole's software hooks up to a database and takes the user to a digital image of that location.

The three-dimensional, interactive software gives users the option to zoom in from space-level to street-level, tilt and rotate the view or search for other information such as hotels, parks or automated-teller bank machines.

Google rivals Yahoo and Microsoft's MSN also offer online mapping services using detailed maps that allow users to zoom down to street-level scale.

Google shares rose $4.17, or 2 per cent, to $185.97 yesterday.

REUTERS NEWS AGENCY

October 28, 2004 at 08:01 AM in Portals | Permalink | TrackBack (6) | Top of page | Blog Home