Google Buys Sketch Up

[! search-engines-web]

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/...-software.html

http://www.sketchup.com/index.php?id=1439

Developed for the conceptual stages of design, SketchUp is powerful yet easy-to-learn 3D software. We think of it as the pencil of digital design. This award-winning software combines a simple, yet robust tool-set that streamlines and simplifies 3D design inside your computer. SketchUp is being used by anyone with the desire to...

[rustybrick]

To me this means that Google is seeking to map the world in 3D.

Already we’ve had hundreds of users create 3D content in SketchUp and place their models in Google Earth. What will that virtual world look like when tens of thousands of users are doing the same?

[randfish]

Seems to be going a little far to me... I feel like this might have been a competitive blocking move, rather than a purchase to actually integrate in the near future. The lesson here, though, is that even if Google bought someone else two days ago, you could still be snapped up at any moment. Just have something to do with something related to some type of search and you're a target.