Alphabet acquired Keyhole Corp., a transaction announced in October 2004.
Keyhole Corp. operates in Geospatial / digital mapping, is based in Mountain View, California, USA. Keyhole was a digital mapping company whose 3D geospatial visualization software let users stream satellite and aerial imagery, zoom from a global view down to street level, and search for points of interest such as hotels, hospitals, and ATMs. Google acquired it to give users a new visual search tool; the technology later became the foundation of Google Earth and fed into Google Maps.
Add a powerful 3D earth-visualization search tool to Google and extend its mission of organizing the world's information; Keyhole became the basis for Google Earth.
This acquisition gives Google users a powerful new search tool, enabling users to view 3D images of any place on earth as well as tap a rich database of roads, businesses and many other points of interest.Jonathan Rosenberg, Vice President of Product Management, Google
Advisory firms were not disclosed for this transaction.