Google buys 3D modelling company @last

By Matt Whipp

Posted on 15 Mar 2006 at 17:27

Google has acquired 3D modelling company @last for an undisclosed sum.

The second Google buy in less than a week - the search giant bought online word processing startup Writely - @last's flagship product is its 3D modelling software SketchUp.

The most obvious application for the software is with Google Earth. There is already a plug-in that allows 3D SketchUp models be used in Google Earth and users have built hundreds of models including, for example, the Statue of Liberty.

The Google buy idea germinated out of meetings the companies had during development of that plug-in.

'Google's resources will allow us to serve our current users better, and Google's reach will allow us to expose more people to SketchUp in one year than we could have touched in ten years on our own. "3D for Everyone" is becoming a reality; we're bringing the "3D" part; Google's contributing the "Everyone."', wrote @Last's founder, Brad Schell.

Seven-year-old @last is based in Boulder in the US with offices in the UK and Germany.