Google collects not just the bits and bytes on the internet but it also publishes a great deal of the data collected in the real world. This so called Geo data is used in applications as Google Earth, Maps and Sketchup.
Last Thursday Google organized the first Dutch Geo Developer Day. I attended this Geo Day together with 250 other "Geo Developers". During this day we heard more about the new features in the Google Maps API. and other Geo applications.