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I am surprised that this is news. Google has done US government work for a long time. After 9/11 the newly formed homeland security wanted pictures and accurate
by bhhaskin 9y ago
I am surprised that this is news. Google has done US government work for a long time. After 9/11 the newly formed homeland security wanted pictures and accurate data in regards to residential addresses in the US. At first they went to the credit bureaus and data brokers to collect and store this information due to the fact they already had researchers on the ground collecting data. Google came along with Google earth and not long after that Google street view. Think about how long it was before they where able to actually monetize google earth & maps. They perfected the art of geodata collection and was likely paid for via government grants [0] and contracts. Even today they sell access to different government agencies[1].
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Earth#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Earth#History
[1] https://enterprise.google.com/maps/government/ https://enterprise.google.com/maps/government/
- 18pfsmt 9y agoGoogle Maps was basically pieced together from smaller companies they acquired. From Wikipedia: Google Earth was originally developed by Keyhole, Inc., a Mountain View-based company founded in 2001. Keyhole, after being spun off from Intrinsic Graphics, received funding from the Central Intelligence Agency's venture capital firm, In-Q-Tel and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, in addition to smaller capital from Nvidia and Sony.
- bhhaskin 9y agoYou are right. Google maps & earth where bought at the same time and share most of their data.
- schoen 9y agoI believe that Keyhole itself was named after a spy satellite series: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_Hole https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_Hole (But I don't know whether there was any other connection between the company and NRO.)
- sterlind 9y agoIC-funded startups are often founded by ex-IC people. "Keyhole" was the logical name to choose, since In-Q-Tel is more than familiar with the real deal. it makes the VC pitch much clearer to .gov backers.
- sqdbps 9y agoThat is a half assed attempt at revisionist history. Did all the conspiracy sites disappear (!) for you to cite google's own sales page!?