Today in Google-buying-up-everything news: the admittedly whitebread tech conglomerate has announced that it has purchased Skybox Imaging, a company that makes high-resolution satellite photos and videos, for $500 million.
According to Google, the purchase will help them keep the images in Google Maps up-to-date and, eventually "help improve Internet access and disaster relief." As Re/code points out, Skybox's imagery is also used to monitor specific spots to see how they change over time. The company's technology goes beyond simply taking satellite photos: it can also monitor anything from crop yield to natural disaster response to basically anything else visible from the sky. One example from Skybox's website would provide financial trading intelligence by monitoring things like a company's natural resources or the number of cars they've got out on the lot.
As Skybox described the deal, "the time is right to join a company who can challenge us to think even bigger and bolder, and who can support us in accelerating our ambitious vision."
The acquisition still needs regulatory approval. At press time, the guy who flipped off Google Street View could not be reached for comment.
