Google: Location data critical

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., May 2 (UPI) -- U.S. search engine giant Google considers its location data valuable to the company's future business, an internal e-mail indicates.

The e-mail, among many written last year, throw a light on the company's thinking about needing to collect location data from millions of computers and mobile devices, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday on the documentation that is part of the public record of a lawsuit filed against Google last year.

The disclosure of the e-mails comes after other revelations about location data gathered by Google and Apple Inc., which prompted the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee to schedule a May 10 hearing to discuss the companies' practices.

Location-related data is vital for more and more mobile applications and Web sites to function properly, as well as tailoring advertisements to a user's location, the e-mails indicate.

"I cannot stress enough how important Google's WiFi [wireless network] location database is to our Android and mobile-product strategy," Steve Lee, the Google product manager, wrote in an e-mail that was revealed in a suit filed against Google by Skyhook Wireless Inc. in a Massachusetts court.

Ted Morgan, Skyhook's chief executive officer, told the Journal Sunday the e-mails "show how important owning the location system is to Google, based in Mountain View, Calif., and how concerned they were about losing major device makers" of smartphones, such as Motorola. He said Skyhook began building a location database in 2003 and has "geo-coded" 500 million WiFi access points.

Skyhook provides location information for some Apple devices, charging device-makers to use its location services. Google's service is free.