Private company

Keyhole, Inc

Logo: Unknown author Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons³

3D Internet global map program

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

2001Founded¹

HeadquartersMountain View¹
Websitewww.keyhole.com

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Google Earth is a web and computer program created by Google that renders a 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposing satellite images, aerial photography, and GIS data onto a 3D globe, allowing users to see cities and landscapes from various angles. Users can explore the globe by entering addresses and coordinates, or by using a keyboard or mouse. The program can also be downloaded on a smartphone or tablet, using a touch screen or stylus to navigate. Users may use the program to add their own data using Keyhole Markup Language and upload them through various sources, such as forums or blogs. Google Earth is able to show various kinds of images overlaid on the surface of the Earth and is also a Web Map Service client. In 2019, Google revealed that Google Earth covers more than 97 percent of the world.²

The story

Founded by John Hanke in 2001.¹

Background

The core technology behind Google Earth was originally developed at Intrinsic Graphics in the late 1990s. At the time, the company was developing 3D gaming software libraries. As a demo of their 3D software, they created a spinning globe that could be zoomed into, similar to the Powers of Ten film. The demo was popular, but the board of Intrinsic wanted to remain focused on gaming, so in 1999, they created Keyhole Corporation, headed by John Hanke. Keyhole then developed a way to stream large databases of mapping data over the internet to client software, a key part of the technology, and acquired patchworks of mapping data from governments and other sources. The product, called "Keyhole EarthViewer", was sold on CDs for use in fields such as real estate, urban planning, defense, and intelligence; users paid a yearly fee for the service. Despite making several capital deals with Nvidia and Sony, the small company was struggling to pay and retain employees.

Fortunes for the company changed in early 2003 during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, when Dave Lorenzini (Director at Keyhole) enticed CNN, ABC, CBS and other major news networks to use their sophisticated 3D flyby imagery to illustrate Baghdad activities for viewers, in exchange for on-air attribution. During the invasion, It was used extensively by Miles O'Brien and other on-air broadcasters, allowing CNN and millions of viewers to follow the progress of the war in a way that had never been seen before. Public interest in the software exploded and Keyhole servers were not able to keep up with demand. Keyhole was soon contacted by the Central Intelligence Agency's venture capital firm, In-Q-Tel, and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, for use with defense mapping databases, which gave Keyhole a much-needed cash infusion. Intrinsic Graphics was sold in 2003 to Vicarious Visions after its gaming libraries did not sell well, and its core group of engineers and management including Brian McClendon and Michael Jones transitioned to Keyhole with Hanke remaining at the head.

History

Around 2004, Google was finding that over 25% of its searches were of a geospatial character, including searches for maps and directions.

In October 2004, Google acquired Keyhole as part of a strategy to better serve its users. Keyhole's EarthViewer was the foundation for what became Google Earth in 2005 while other aspects of its core technology were integrated into Google Maps.

In 2021, Google replaced its layers feature with a new one on its Google Earth software. This replacement consolidated some layers, but also removed some layers and features.

Google Earth is featured prominently in the 2021 German miniseries The Billion Dollar Code, which serves as a fictionalized account of a 2014 patent infringement lawsuit brought against Google by the German creators of Terravision. The series, which was shown on Netflix, is prefaced by an episode of interviews with the ART+COM developers of Terravision and their legal representative. One of the co-founders of Keyhole has published a first-hand account claiming to debunk the origins, timelines, and interpretations depicted in the fictionalized miniseries. Not shown in the mini-series was that the patent owned by ART+COM and used to challenge Google was completely invalidated after it was shown that another so-called TerraVision, this one at the Stanford Research Institute, predated ART+COM's ideas by several years.

From Wikipedia’s article on Keyhole, Inc, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.⁴

Leadership

Who has led Keyhole, Inc, and when. Pick a name to see everywhere that person has worked.

FounderJohn Hanke¹

Products and brands

software

Listed on Wikidata.¹

Controversies and legal

Controversy and criticism

The software has been criticized by a number of special interest groups, including national officials, as being an invasion of privacy or posing a threat to national security. The typical argument is that the software provides information about military or other critical installations that could be used by terrorists. Google Earth has been blocked by Google in Iran and Sudan since 2007, due to United States government export restrictions. The program has also been blocked in Morocco since 2006 by Maroc Telecom, a major service provider in the country.

In the academic realm, increasing attention has been devoted to both Google Earth and its place in the development of digital globes. In particular, the International Journal of Digital Earth features multiple articles evaluating and comparing the development of Google Earth and its differences when compared to other professional, scientific, and governmental platforms. Google Earth's role in the expansion of "Earth observing media" has been examined to understand how it is shaping a shared cultural consciousness regarding climate change and humanity's capacity to treat the Earth as an engineerable object.

Defense

In 2006, one user spotted a large topographical replica in a remote region of China. The model was a small-scale (1/500) version of the Karakoram Mountain Range, which is under the control of China but claimed by India. When later confirmed as a replica of this region, spectators began entertaining military implications. In July 2007, it was reported that a new Chinese Navy Jin-class nuclear ballistic missile submarine was photographed at the Xiaopingdao Submarine Base south of Dalian. On February 13, 2019, 3D imagery was launched in four of Taiwan's cities: Taipei, New Taipei, Taoyuan, and Taichung. This caused concerns from Taiwanese officials, such as Taiwan's Defense Minister Yen Teh-fa, saying that the 3D imagery exposed some of its Patriot missile sites. Ten days later on February 23, Google confirmed that it would be removing all of its 3D imagery from Taiwan.

Hamas and the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades have reportedly used Google Earth to plan Qassam rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza. (See: Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel)

National security

Former president of India A. P. J. Abdul Kalam expressed concern over the availability of high-resolution pictures of sensitive locations in India. Google subsequently agreed to censor such sites.

The Indian Space Research Organisation said Google Earth poses a security threat to India and seeks dialogue with Google officials.

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The South Korean government expressed concern that the software offers images of the presidential palace and various military installations that could possibly be used by its hostile neighbor North Korea.

In 2006, Google Earth began offering detailed images of classified areas in Israel. The images showed Israel Defense Forces bases, including secret Israeli Air Force facilities, Israel's Arrow missile defense system, military headquarters and Defense Ministry compound in Tel Aviv, a top-secret power station near Ashkelon, and the Negev Nuclear Research Center. Also shown was the alleged headquarters of Mossad, Israel's foreign intelligence service, whose location is highly classified.

As a result of pressure from the United States government, the residence of the vice president at Number One Observatory Circle was obscured through mosaicification in Google Earth and Google Maps in 2006, but this restriction has since been lifted. The usefulness of this downgrade is questionable, as high-resolution photos and aerial surveys of the property are readily available on the Internet elsewhere. Capitol Hill also used to be mosaicified in this way. The Royal Stables in The Hague, Netherlands, also used to be mosaicified. This is also true for airports in Greece.

The lone surviving gunman involved in the 2008 Mumbai attacks admitted to using Google Earth to familiarize himself with the locations of buildings used in the attacks.

Michael Finton, aka Talib Islam, used Google Earth in planning his attempted September 24, 2009, bombing of the Paul Findley Federal Building and the adjacent offices of Congressman Aaron Schock in Springfield, Illinois.

Other concerns

Operators of the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, asked Google to censor high-resolution pictures of the facility. They later withdrew the request.

In 2009, Google superimposed old woodblock prints of maps from 18th- and 19th-century Japan over Japan today. These maps marked areas inhabited by the burakumin caste, formerly known as eta (穢多), literally "abundance of defilement", who were considered "non-humans" for their "dirty" occupations, including leather tanning and butchery. Descendants of members of the burakumin caste still face discrimination today and many Japanese people feared that some would use these areas, labeled etamura (穢多村 "eta village"), to target current inhabitants of them. These maps are still visible on Google Earth, but with the label removed where necessary.

Late 2000s versions of Google Earth require a software component running in the background that will automatically download and install updates. Several users expressed concerns that there is not an easy way to disable this updater, as it runs without the permission of the user.

In February 2014, the Berlin-based ART+COM charged that Google Earth products infringe U.S. Patent No. RE44,550, entitled "Method and Device for Pictorial Representation of Space-related Data" and had remarkable similarity to Terravision which was developed by ART+COM in 1993 and patented in 1995. The court decided against Art+Com both at trial and on appeal because trial testimony showed that Art+Com was aware of an existing, substantially similar invention that it failed to mention as "prior art" in its patent application, thereby invalidating their patent. Stephen Lau, a former employee of federally funded, not-for-profit Stanford Research Institute ("SRI") testified that he helped develop SRI Terravision, an earth visualization application, and that he wrote 89% of the code. He further testified that he shared and discussed SRI Terravision code with Art+Com. Both systems used a multi-resolution pyramid of imagery to let users zoom from high to low altitudes, and both were called Terravision. Art+Com agreed to rename their product because SRI's came first. Stephen Lau died from COVID-19 in March 2020.

In July 2026, Google released a tool allowing users to augment the satellite imagery from Google Earth with its AI image generation tool Nano Banana. Concerns about the ease with which users could create troubling or misleading satellite imagery resulted in the withdrawal of the tool within 48 hours.