14 DAY TRIAL // Google has announced a very rare move, it's selling one of its products, specifically the 3D modeling software SketchUp and the team behind it. Google acquired the company behind SketchUp six years ago when it was just a small and new startup.
Google is selling the technology and the people working on it to Timble, a publicly listed company that makes surveying, mapping and marine navigation equipment. SketchUp, which is used to model buildings in particular, should prove a good fit.
Google has been using SketchUp to encourage people to create 3D models to be used in Google Earth and Maps. Most of the world's cities now have 3D buildings and models in Maps and it's all thanks to modelers volunteering their time to make them.
But Google has a couple of tools to help users create 3D models, albeit rudimentary ones, like the Google Building Maker.
The SketchUp software was designed for more experienced modelers, even though it was squarely focused on ease of use above all and was the first professional 3D modeling software many people used.
There is a free version of SketchUp will continue to be offered after SketchUp joins Timble, product manager John Bacus said.
"Designers, builders and makers of things have always been the heart and soul of SketchUp. With Trimble’s commitment to invest in our growth, we’ll be able to innovate and develop new features better than ever before," he wrote.
"For those of you in the architecture, engineering and construction industries, the knowledge and experience Trimble will add to the SketchUp effort are obvious," he added.
"If you’re one of the many, many people who use SketchUp for something else—from education to woodworking, geo-modeling to movie-making—rest assured that there will be a SketchUp for you, too," he explained.
Google has been cleaning up and shutting down or merging projects that were that big or that important to the core business. It's been doing it for a year now and it continues to do it.