Google buy 3D company behind 3D sketching software SketchUP

Google Earth to go proper 3D

14 March 2006 17:55 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Google seems to be on the buying rampage this month with the news that the search engine has bought @LastSoftware, the company behind SketchUp, a 3D shape designer that among other things, allows people to build 3D models for Google's Google Earth application.

Bought for an undisclosed sum, the CEO of SketchUp said in a statement on the site that:

“We got to know a bunch of Googlers while we were building the Google Earth Plugin for SketchUp … One thing led to another, and here we are.”

The announcement, although not as ground shattering as the company's earlier acquisition this month of Writely, an online word processor application, does mean that Google is keen to look at other areas for development beyond its core search functions.

The move to buy the 3D mapping software could be tided in with further developing the Google's mapping and direction element for users when using the service for road directions.

Theoretically, the software would allow Google to create 3-Dimension landscapes of key cities for drivers to better place themselves driving around rather than the rather flat images currently found on GPS software.