Google continues to buy up tiny start-ups, building its software arsenal and adding to its engineering ranks. They have just snapped-up Sketch Up, a tiny six-year old start-up that makes some sort of 3D software.
SketchUp is a deceptively simple, amazingly powerful tool for creating, viewing, and modifying 3D ideas quickly and easily. SketchUp was developed to combine the elegance and spontaneity of pencil sketching with the speed and flexibility of today’s digital media.
I’ve never heard of SketchUp myself but apparently its very popular among mac users (any mac people out there like confirm this?). Here is the company?s own take on the deal.
View: Google’s annoucement on their blog
News source: Techzap
It seems fairly obvious to me (having been on the SketchUp website) why they were bought up by Google – they have made a plugin for Google Earth available here – http://www.sketchup.com/index.php?id=408 – which allows the user to make with minimum pain a simple diagram of a building in 3D – I reckon that Google now wish to incorporate this in Google Earth so that users can make buildings for them (it is possible for 3D buildings to be seen on Google for those of you who haven’t realised this).
….in anywhere other than the US??