Thursday, September 11. 2008

Google GeoEye Deal Aimed at Android?

Eric Jackson at The Street thinks so:

More importantly, GeoEye is intimately tied with Google's plans for Android, the mobile operating system it will roll out to handset providers later next year. Google is effectively buying proprietary mapping technology from GeoEye that can be later integrated into new location-based services we have not yet seen.

For example, with high-resolution images from a satellite that circles the earth several times a day, it becomes possible to integrate real-time traffic information when plotting traffic directions. It also becomes possible to easily track GPS-equipped vehicles.

GeoEye also has significant mapping tools that can be used to analyze multiple or time-series images, an interesting feature that could be interesting for Google Earth and Google Maps to implement.

He goes on to note that the two Google founders, not some product manager, was a the launch, suggesting a far deeper relationship that "just" new maps for Google Maps.

I'm not sure this money guy knows much about the technology, but its interesting speculation.