Google Acquires Video Mapping Startup

Let's cover the short official announcement first. A post on the Quiksee site started by stating, "We are delighted to announce that Quiksee has been acquired by Google!"

Then the post continued, "We've learned a lot from our previous work at Quiksee, and we look forward to bringing our experience, creativity and insight to Google. Both Google and Quiksee share the same innovative vision, and while we can't share any future product plans, we look forward to the opportunity to contribute and do great things together in the future.

Those contributions and "great things" will probably involve updates to Google Maps, since Quiksee employees are supposed to join the Google Geo team. Plus, Quiksee's original product - while not nearly so comprehensive in scope - has been compared to a video version of Street View.

This hints at an interesting degree of confidence on Google's part. After all, many privacy groups and governments have objected to Street View since its inception, even making legal challenges on occasion. Google's sometimes given in, too, reshooting a country with shorter cameras or offering opt-outs.

So by acquiring Quiksee, Google seems to be saying that it can overcome those challenges and that it plans to move forward with the project. That could indicate that the company intends to dedicate a lot of resources to this area.

Unfortunately, no one at Google's shared any sort of timeframe for when a reasonable level of integration with Quiksee's tech might be achieved. And for that matter, neither Google nor Quiksee gave any hints about the smaller organization's purchase price (which would help signal how important the deal is).

We'll of course see what happens and be sure to report any important developments. If it's of any special significance, the Quiksee post at least indicated that employees "hope to have news for you soon" and urged readers to "stay tuned!"