Google has acquired portions of a Swiss company called Endoxon in order to improve the European maps in its Google Earth PC application and the Google Maps online search service.

Online maps have become extremely popular, as millions of people use them every day to obtain driving directions, find local businesses, read customer reviews, see high-definition aerial images of places and even check real-time traffic information.

Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL all are working feverishly to continually update and improve their online mapping services, which have become an essential part of local search Web sites, whose advertising revenue is expected to grow from $3.4 billion in 2005 to $13 billion in 2010, according to The Kelsey Group.

While Google and its rivals have focused their initial efforts mostly on the United States, they all want to provide comprehensive maps and local business information globally, and Europe is a priority region for them.

Endoxon, a developer of Internet mapping technology based in Lucerne, Switzerland, gives Google "a dedicated team in Europe" working on online mapping, wrote John Hanke, director of Google Earth & Maps, on Monday in the company's official blog..

Google, which plans to use Endoxon's technology to enhance Google Earth and Google Maps, bought the Swiss company's Internet, mapping and data processing business units, according to Endoxon's Web site.

Endoxon develops Asynchronous JavaScript + XML mapping technologies for integrating and processing geo-referenced data and high-resolution aerial and satellite images for dynamic Internet and mobile services, according to the company's site.

Now that it is part of Google, Endoxon will stop selling its products and services, but it will fulfill its contractual obligations and commitments to existing clients.

The Endoxon units that Google didn't acquire will continue to operate as part of a new company called Mappuls Google did not disclose what it paid for the parts of Endoxon that it bought.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.

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