Google has taken the war over exclusive web content into space. Not directly, of course—the satellite that was recently launched into space on a rocket bearing the Google logo was the result of a joint venture between a commercial satellite imaging provider and the department of defense. In return for undisclosed terms, Google got two considerations: its logo on the side of the launch vehicle, and exclusive use of the mapping images that the satellite produces.
The partnerships in the new satellite are extensive. The hardware was built by General Dynamics and put in orbit by Boeing; the funding for the project came in part from a commercial satellite imaging company, Geoeye. The rest of the funding came from the Defense Department's National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, which provides map-based intelligence resources. The launch took place yesterday from the Air Force's Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
Image: the Boeing Company/Geoeye
Geoeye is one of a number of commercial satellite imagery providers, and the company provide images to everyone from news organizations to human rights organizations. The US government has also been known to buy time on the satellites, both in order to use the images themselves and to prevent other companies from getting access to them.
As a comparison provided by Geoeye reveals, the new space-going hardware is a significant improvement over previous generations. Its camera drops the resolution of images down from a meter to half that figure—apparently, the hardware goes down to 0.41m, but the DoD won't let that resolution onto the market. Images will go deeper into the blue end of the spectrum, and the camera can provide color images at a bit over a meter and a half resolution.
Nowhere in Geoeye's press material for the satellite, however, is there any mention of Google. Apart from the evidence provided by the Google logo on the side of the launch vehicle, the rest of the information on the project floating around the web comes from Reuters, which notes that the two Google founders were present to watch the launch. Apparently, the search giant has forged an agreement that will allow them, and only them, to use the images obtained from the satellite for online mapping purposes. For anything else, anyone with the money can buy the pics.
That point's worth emphasizing, because a number of reports have gotten a bit hyperbolic about Google's role. One report suggested that the search giant had "launched its own imaging satellite." Others played it as completely under control of Google and the military. (Rest assured that the military will be calling the shots on all major decisions involving this satellite.)
It's not at all clear what the imaging hardware's extra resolution gets Google, other than sharper pictures and the possibility of filling a few specialized, niche needs. A half-meter resolution isn't really sufficient to substitute for the street view cameras, but perhaps the company's founders are simply satisfied by the fact that they have them, and Yahoo and Microsoft don't.
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