Google has announced the acquisition of Keyhole, makers of a product that lets you browse the planet.

This program is amazing–you can click and drag, zip, zoom, and fly all over the world. Browse the planet with satellite maps superimposed on the globe in topographic glory. I’ve tried the trial a couple of times and I’ve been waffling on whether to buy it. The huge news is that the price has dropped from $70 to $30. This will get me to open my wallet.

Keyhole is one of the few computer programs that people will crowd around a computer to play around with. “Go here!” “No, go here!” “Don’t make me come over there!”

My only complaint is that there’s no Mac version. I hope that changes soon. I do have a desktop PC, but my PC laptop is way too weak for this application. I’d love to be able to take Keyhole with me on-the-go.

BTW, NASA has a free application World Wind, that does a lot of what Keyhole does. When I first checked it out, the site was Slashdotted, so I didn’t have a pleasant out-of-the-box experience since maps and the like are fed to World Wind over the network.